A return to the sea
by fairy666tale
Summary: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.
1. Chapter 1

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

**Since my last Ningyuu Kyuutei Gakudan didn't really get response and I hadn't figured out any storyline yet, I've deleted it, and started this. And this one IS going to have a storyline ;)**

**About this chapter, the manga doesn't really tell much about Lucille's childhood, so what he says in this fanfic about going on a sea trip with his parents is entirely made up.**

* * *

"But why me?" Kohaku shouted. "Why not one of you guys?"

"I'm too young, and Gwindel just doesn't fit him," Eles answered timidly. "Come on, we have to find out if the rumors are true. If they really turn newlyweds into those new kind of guignols, on that ship, we have to stop them."

"Don't you like going undercover as my husband?" Lucille asked, grinning devilishly. The singer actually seemed to find this undercover mission amusing, and it almost scared Kohaku.

"For starters, you're not even a woman!"

"But like Eles said, she's too young. And I'm the only one of us who can pose as a woman."

Okay, that was true. But still. "What if they want us too… you know… kiss. They'll be watching everyone on that ship, so we can't look suspicious." He felt he was close to blushing, and looked away.

"I promise I'll brush my teeth," Lucille said, with an excessive smile. Instead of answering, Kohaku slammed him across his face. With a soft 'ouch' Lucille fell to the ground. "You ass!" Still grinning though, and that pissed Kohaku off. Before Lucille could stand up himself, Kohaku dragged him to his feet, holding his collar.

"Listen, you idiot. I know I don't have a choice, but if you don't at least try to act like a normal person, I'll throw you off that ship and no one will ever find your corpse!"

"Understood… hubby."

- - -

A few days later, they finally reached the ship. Despite his efforts to seem cool, Kohaku felt him embarrassment rising as he had to hold hands with Lucille. The fact the singer was wearing his normal pants, and not a skirt or a dress, made it a little less awkward, but still. Any assignment would have been better than this. Anything.

"Names?" a woman dressed as a sailor asked, holding a clipboard.

"Kohaku and Luci… Lucy," he said quickly.

"Okay, you can walk on to that desk over there. There you'll be assigned a room."

Pulling Lucille with him, the singer had been a bit out of it since yesterday for some reason, Kohaku walked over to the desk. "Room 666." The woman behind the desk shove a key to him without asking any questions or giving a reason for assigning him exactly that room. Her smile was even more fake than Lucille's. With a smile just as fake, Kohaku took the keys and walked to the hallway, following the signs to their room.

"Lucille…" Someone was standing a little further across the hallway. Another sailor girl. The whole ship seemed to only have woman employed. "Lucy, you okay?"

Lucille glanced at him a bit surprised. "Oh, yeah. Just a bit of a stomachache." He smiled wryly. "And the boat is not even moving yet."

"Geez, have you even been on a ship before?"

"Once." Lucille's look became a bit dreamy and distant. "When I was a child, my parents took me and my sister on one. Maybe for a vacation or something, I don't really remember. Just that I felt terrible the whole time, except for one moment."

"What?" A bit curious, Kohaku looked at him, but Lucille didn't look back.

"There…" He closed his eyes for a moment. "At one night, I sneaked out to the deck. It was just after sunset, and it was full moon." An almost invisible smile appeared on his face, a true one this time. "The sky looked so beautiful."

Kohaku just stared at him. Why did Lucille bother to tell him that story? He never talked much about himself, none of them did. In fact, Kohaku never really gave Lucille's childhood much thought at all. "Want to see that again?"

Lucille sighed. "Nah, maybe. If there's an opportunity to. But it won't be the same anyway."

Which made Kohaku's curiosity stronger, but he decided not to push it. They'd have to spend an entire week acting like newlyweds, so they'd better keep the peace among each other. "Here it is." He opened the room, letting Lucille enter first. A little further down the hallway was another sailor.

The room was pretty small, with only a two-sized bed and no windows. There was a cabinet for clothes, but they both only had one suitcase, mainly filled with weapons and musical equipment. Lucille dropped his suitcase down in the corner of the room, and dropped himself on the bed. "Oww," he groaned. "Think I've got some kind of flu."

"Aren't you just seasick?" Kohaku asked, a bit annoyed.

Lucille shook his head. "That only makes me feel like throwing up. I've got a headache too, and my stomach hurts." He sighed and sat up. "Well, that doesn't matter right now. Did you see anything strange already?"

"Besides the fact that all employees are young woman?" Kohaku replied dryly. "No, not much yet."

"There were a lot of them watching. Like they're hiding something." Lucille looked at the door. "We'd better not talk too loud."

"Yeah." Kohaku noticed a schedule lying on a small table next to the bed. "Looks like there's a fixed schedule of events everyone is supposed to go. Including dancing… Crap."

"Can't you dance?"

"It's ballroom dancing, meaning you'll have to wear a dress. And if they're watching, we have to seem like a couple in love…"

Lucille finally got the point. "Damn. When?"

"At the end of the week. So let's try to finish this stupid assignment before that."

"And what about dinners? Any dress code?" He almost sounded scared.

"A… suit and dress. With a proper hairdo," Kohaku read out loud. Lucille looked like he was considering killing himself. "What? It's not like you haven't dressed up like a woman before."

"But… not with make-up. And I don't know any nice ways to tie up my hair. And not a whole week long!"

Kohaku sighed. "Look, I can do your hair. I had a girlfriend once who made me do that for her, so I know a few nice ways to tie it up. All I need is some elastics and hairclips. And we bought that dress for this assignment, right? So all is solved."

"Not my personal problems!"

"Your feelings don't matter to me, so fix that yourself," Kohaku snapped. "You already look feminine to begin with, and at least you don't have to act all lovey-dovey with a cross-dresser!"

"No, I have to be the cross-dresser," Lucille hissed. "And keep your voice down." Kohaku just glared at him, but Lucille didn't respond to that. "Is there anything planned for today?"

"Yeah." Kohaku read it. "Swimming in the indoor pool." Lucille's face paled. "Don't tell me…" Everyone could swim, right?"

"Well, swimming would have been bad for my hearing, so I never learned it," Lucille admitted.

"It didn't occur to your parents that drowning wouldn't do your talent for singing any good either?"

"Apparently not. But I'm pretty sure I won't drown if you keep close to me. They'll be watching us anyway, so it has to look like we want to be close to each other."

"I don't do CPR, just so you know."

Lucille grinned. "Well, if all the pool's staff are also ladies, I'd rather have them do it anyway."

They had to lend bathing suits, and luckily they were one piece suits, the woman had a skirt over them. It would have been a problem if Lucille had to wear a bikini, though Kohaku would have enjoyed the singer's embarrassment. Now, he just got to enjoy Lucille's awkward way of hanging on to the borders of the pool. His size wasn't really helping him either, Kohaku had noticed Lucille's feet didn't touch the bottom of the pool. He himself could just stand in the pool, and the water barely touched his chin. He didn't have to stand, of course, since he had learned how to swim, as a child.

"Act natural," he hissed, when a pool employee walked by and looked at them a bit puzzled.

"Why is this required?" Lucille whispered back, a bit breathlessly.

"Because we have to check everything for suspicious activities," Kohaku whispered back. "Now come here!"

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Lucille's arm and dragged him away from the border, towards the middle of the pool. There was a small island with some plants there, where they could talk more private. Lucille, however, couldn't even keep his head above the water. And he also managed to entangle himself in his hair, that was tied up in a long braid. Almost panicked, he clinged on to Kohaku, nearly dragging the other man down with him.

"Get on my back!" Kohaku warned. Luckily, Lucille did what he asked, and he practically carried the singer to the island. Lucille coughed breathlessly, spitting out some water. "Idiot," Kohaku hissed, dropping him down on the island. The edges of it were stairs, so they could sit down easily. Gasping for breath, Lucille slumped against him. Another pool employee walked by, and quickly, Kohaku embraced him to make it look like they were just making out. "Don't act so suspicious!"

"Yeah, I nearly… drowned on… purpose, happy now?" Lucille hissed, still panting a bit. Kohaku could feel him trembling, and realized Lucille really had been scared. "Can we please… get out of… the pool now? I don't think… they'll stop us… if we tell them I can't swim. And there doesn't… seem to be anything… strange here."

"You do realize we'll have to swim back to the border for that, right?"

Lucille looked at him angrily, but there was also fear in his eyes. "I know."

"Geez, you really never even tried to swim?" Kohaku growled.

Lucille's look turned a bit glazy. "I did, when I was a kid. I nearly drowned, and when I woke up, my parents kept yelling at me for what felt like hours." He sighed, and blinked, the look in his eyes turning back to normal. "Anyway, right now I'm not feeling too good to begin with, and that doesn't help either." He leaned back a bit, wiping the hair out of his face. Kohaku couldn't help to notice how beautiful the singer looked when he was all wet, even with his hair tied up.

"Let's go then." Forcing himself not to look at Lucille any longer, he got back on the water. "Get on my back."

"Okay." Carefully, Lucille slid on his back, holding him tight. "Swim quickly." He really sounded scared, and Kohaku felt him trembling slightly. As fast as he could without getting underwater, he swam to the side of the pool and let Lucille slid of his back. He climbed out of the pool just as fast, but when he looked back, Lucille was still clinging onto the border. The singer looked at him a bit begging. "Could you please pull me up?"

He wanted to refuse and see Lucille having trouble climbing out, though he would never leave him in any real danger. But a husband would probably not do that to his wife if he wanted to sleep in bed tonight, and not on the floor, so he pulled Lucille out of the pool roughly. He hadn't expected the singer to just collapse against him suddenly, and they both ended up on the floor, Lucille on Kohaku's lap. "What the Hell are you doing?" Kohaku hissed, remembering just in time that they were undercover.

Lucille laid his head on Kohaku's shoulder, with his face towards him, to whisper without anyone seeing it. "The skirt of my bathing suit got wet. So it's sticking against my body."

"That's a reason to let yourself drop onto me?" Kohaku tried to make it seem to outsiders like was worried about Lucille, but in fact he was getting a bit angry. "What's your problem!"

"They'll see," Lucille whispered, blushing a bit.

"See what?" What was that damn singer talking about?

"They'll see… my bump." He sounded embarrassed, and even more when he realized Kohaku really didn't understand what he meant. "My… thing. What women don't have. They'll see the bump between my legs through my bathing suit."

Finally, he understood. And blushed almost as much as Lucille. "Ow… Okay. Yeah, that's a problem…"

"Is everything alright?" a fake sounding friendly voice asked. A bit startled, Kohaku looked back and saw a member of the pool's staff standing behind him.

Lucille automatically pulled up his legs, covering up as much of his lower body as he could. Kohaku just tried to think quickly. "H… She's seasick." That wasn't even a lie, though he didn't particularly cared about lying. "And she can't swim to begin with." He pulled Lucille closer to his body, trying to look protective. "We just didn't want to miss something. But I think I'll take her back to our room now, if I may."

"Of course," the staff member said. "Do you have towels with you?"

This might be a chance to cover up Lucille. "Eh… no. We didn't know there would be swimming."

"Then please wait here for a moment, I'll get you both a towel." She walked away.

Lucille didn't move. "Can you carry me back? It'll look more real, considering I'm supposed to be feeling too sick to even turn towards that pool woman."

Kohaku had the feeling his colleague just wanted to be carried, but before he could argue, the staff lady came back with two white towels. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I hope you'll be feeling better before dinner time." She smiled politely and walked away again.

With a somewhat relieved sigh, Kohaku threw one of the towels over Lucille's lower body, and the other one over his own shoulders. The singer still didn't made any movement to stand up, so Kohaku took him in his arms, bridal-style. And with the silent promise to kill Lucille as soon as he got the chance.

Even though he didn't complain, the singer really looked pale, and he stared at a spot on Kohaku's neck with half lidded blue eyes. Which made Kohaku wonder whether he really had been wanting to be carried to annoy Kohaku, or because he had been afraid that he really wouldn't make it back to their room without throwing up. Must be a pretty serious tendency to get seasick, since Kohaku himself barely noticed the ship's movements most of the time.

"Why aren't you sick in the car?" he asked quietly.

Lucille sighed softly before answering. "Don't know. It's not really motion-sickness, I only get sick on boats and ships." Another sigh, deeper this time. "Maybe it's more… that I can't handle that feeling of being surrounded by nothing but water."

"But you can't even see it."

"Still. It makes me feel…" He abruptly stopped talking, and for a moment Kohaku was scared that the singer was going to throw up. After a few seconds, though, Lucille spoke again. "Never mind."

"What… How does it make you feel?" Now he was getting curious.

"Just… Ah, never mind." Lucille's thin body tensed a bit. "It doesn't matter."

It obviously did, but Kohaku knew he wouldn't get a honest answer anyway. Besides, he could feel the singer shivering, and he felt cold. Lucille's small weight added to that, it made Kohaku feel like he was carrying a corpse. Which wasn't a great feeling. "Geez, take a hot shower when we get back to the room! You're freezing, and I'm not going to take care of you if you catch a cold!"

Lucille glared at him, almost hurt. "I think I'm better off without your care anyway!"

After checking if no one else was around, Kohaku replied. "Then walk yourself!" Coldly, he let go of Lucille's body. He singer, who hadn't seen that coming, almost fell. He only just managed to land on his feet, but had to lean against a wall to stay that way. His face turned from pale to almost green, and his knees gave in, sending him to the ground after all. "What… oh crap!" Quickly, Kohaku kneeled next to him and made him sit up straight. "Try to keep it in!"

"C-can't…" Lucille started panting. "Can't… too much…" He threw up, almost hitting Kohaku's legs with it. Kohaku barely noticed, all he noticed was how frail and… And what? There was something else in the way Lucille looked right now. Embracing him carefully, he felt the singer's abdomen cramping every time he vomited. Tears were slowly rolling from his closed eyes and his breathing sounded irregular. Still, it seemed like he was more ashamed than anything. He didn't even lean un Kohaku more than absolutely necessary, though he obviously was having trouble to keep his balance.

Lonely. That's how he looked. The beautiful, talented singer looked so damn lonely, it almost made Kohaku feel bad for being mean to him.

When it finally stopped, Lucille slumped against the wall, eyes still shut, "Sorry," he mumbled. "I'm sorry. Just… please, don't be angry at me right now." He started trembling. "I'm really sorry!"

"Hey, calm down! Idiot!" Kohaku pulled Lucille against his chest. "Geez, you're all shaking! And I'm not going to hit you for throwing up! You clearly weren't doing it for fun."

Almost incredulously, Lucille opened his eyes a bit and looked at him, not moving his body at all. "Then… will you carry me back? My legs feel a bit… wobbly."

"Whatever," Kohaku said, trying not to sound concerned. Still, he moved carefully when he took Lucille in his arms again. The singer just relaxed against him, he even closed his eyes. He still looked lonely, though.

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**I hope you all liked it! Next chapter won't be so long, probably...**

**I'll update next weekend **


	2. Chapter 2

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

**Shorter than the last one, but they make some progress in their assignement.**

* * *

After dumping Lucille on the bed, Kohaku locked the door of their room. "Go take a shower, you smell like vomit."

"Hm, I will. In a minute." With a sigh, Lucille opened his beautiful big eyes and looked at the ceiling. "Man, I feel like crap."

"Well, you look like it."

Lucille smiled faintly. "Thanks." He sat up slowly. "I'll be right back."

In a few minutes, he was done showering. Kohaku had been sitting around in the room, listening if the singer wasn't throwing up again. He wasn't, luckily, though it took him long enough to get out of the bathroom. When he finally did came out, he just walked to the bed without saying anything, and dropped down on it. With his face buried in the bed sheets, he mumbled something. "What?" Kohaku asked, annoyed.

Lucille turned his face towards Kohaku. "I said, what's next? Do we also have to do something embarrassing for dinner?"

Kohaku picked up the schedule and read it quickly. "No, it just says 'appropriate attire'. So you should be fine with just looking decent."

"Mm… okay." He sighed softly. "I don't think I'm going to eat much, though."

"Still seasick?"

"That won't be over until I'm off this boat. But my head hurts too, and my stomach." Kohaku remembered vaguely that Lucille had been complaining about that earlier, but he hadn't really been paying attention. Lucille didn't say more about the subject, so it probably wasn't that bad anyway. "I wonder what we're going to have to eat."

"If it's vegetables, I won't eat it," Kohaku growled.

Lucille grinned. "Geez, you're really childish."

"What… Idiot!" Without thinking, Kohaku snatched a pillow off the bed and threw it at Lucille's head to shut him up. He should have known that wouldn't work, as the singer just rolled to his back and threw it back at him. "Stop it!" Kohaku shouted, throwing it at Lucille again and leaning over the bed to grab the other pillow. Before he could even reach it, Lucille practically jumped onto his back, slamming him on his head with the first pillow.

"Got you!" Lucille laughed.

"Asshole!" Quickly, Kohaku threw him off his back and jumped on his chest. He noticed himself being careful to lean on the bed, though, and not on Lucille's chest. For some reason, it annoyed him. "If you do that again, I will use that pillow to suffocate you with!"

"Sorry," Lucille mumbled, still smiling. His smooth skin felt so warm from the shower, Kohaku almost enjoyed touching him. Wich made him even more annoyed, since he certainly didn't want that idiot to have such an effect on him. So he roughly pushed himself in a sitting position, with his hands on Lucille's slim shoulders. The singer groaned softly. "You're heavy!"

"Your hair is still wet," Kohaku noticed. It wasn't tied up in a braid anymore, but the bed sheets beneath it started to show wet spots. "You should dry it, you know."

Lucille closed his eyes. "I tried, but as soon as I lean over to dry it, I get so sick I want to throw up again." He shivered it bit. "It'll be dry in a few hours if I just leave it be."

"You'll catch a cold, moron!"

"Why would you care?"

"I have to sleep in the same bed as you tonight, so if you get a cold, I'll get it too." That was a logical explanation, right? It still felt like he was lying, though. Then why was he concerned about the singer?

"Well, if you want it dry, then dry it yourself," Lucille mumbled tiredly. "I think I'm going to sleep for a few minutes, if you don't mind."

"Whatever. Just lay on your side, so I can dry your hair." Without looking at the surprised expression on Lucille's face, Kohaku walked away to get a towel. When he got back, the singer had laid back the pillows where they belonged, and was lying with his head on one of them, on his side. His wet hair was sprawled behind him, like strange wings. It made him look even more beautiful. "You still awake?"

"Yeah, a bit," Lucille sighed, without opening his eyes. Kohaku sat down on the edge of the bed, starting to dry Lucille's long hair. After a minute or so, he could hear the singer's breathing even out as he fell asleep. Though Kohaku was a bit rough with the towel and his hair, he didn't seem to be bothered by it. He actually seemed to be enjoying the attention, even in his sleep. "Mm…" he groaned softly, when Kohaku decided his hair was dry enough.

"Geez, and you call me childish." Kohaku threw away the towel, and folded the bed sheet Lucille was lying on, so that it was also covering the slender singer.

"Pff…" With a sigh, Lucille rolled onto his back, with his mouth open. It looked a bit dumb, but also cute.

"Idiot," Kohaku growled, pulling the sheet over Lucille's face. The singer groaned again and lifted his arms to pull it back down, without waking up. Kohaku couldn't help grinning at the position Lucille was lying in, on his back, with his hands on both sides of his head. He looked like some cat, almost like was going to purr if someone would pet him now. Not that Kohaku was even considering trying that one. Still, he stayed close to his colleague, just in case he would wake and throw up again.

After a few minutes, Lucille stirred a bit. "You okay?" Kohaku asked. No reply, so the singer was still sleeping. His face was tensed in fear, though. His eyes were moving quickly behind his closed eyelids, telling Kohaku that the smaller man was dreaming. "Mm… no…" Lucille groaned softly. "Water… cold… Don't…" That last word went into a scream, and Lucille's eyes shot open. Gasping for breath, he stared at Kohaku like he didn't recognize him, but after a short moment he calmed down a bit.

"What the Hell did you dream about?" Kohaku asked, a bit startled.

"Nothing… just…" With his face hidden behind the bed sheet, Lucille sighed. "It's not important. I'm fine."

His entire body was trembling and overall, he looked like a scared child. Obviously, he wasn't fine. "Liar." A little rough, Kohaku pulled the sheet down, so Lucille couldn't hide behind it anymore. His beautiful face was pale and it looked like he was fighting back tears. "Geez… You expect me to believe you're fine!" Kohaku yelled.

Lucille cringed a bit. "Don't… don't yell at me, please. Not right now." His voice sounded almost begging.

"What did you dream about?" Kohaku growled.

"Nothing!"

"Just answer!"

"No! It's none of your business , and you wouldn't understand anyway!" Lucille shouted.

"Idiot!" Angry, Kohaku walked to the door. "I'm going to check out the rest of the ship. Have fun with your private nightmares!" He slammed the door closed behind him and walked off without looking back.

"Asshole!" Lucille growled, after Kohaku had left. He didn't really know if he was angry at his colleague or at himself. But it was true what he had said, it wasn't like Kohaku would understand why the nightmare had been so terrible to him. And their relationship wasn't one in which there was a lot of talking, so he didn't even feel like trying to explain it. Kohaku would probably stop listening after a few seconds. And being ignored if he finale showed some real feelings, that would just hurt too much.

"Stupid asshole," he growled again, softer this time. Now he was sure he was angry with himself. It was his own fault he could never be truly honest with someone. His past was his own fault, for picking up that cursed doll as a child. For leaving Cordie to become queen against her own will. That he had to use Eles as a replacement for his sister, so she would be free. He didn't deserve any compassion or friendship. Being alone was what he deserved.

With a trembling sigh he closed his eyes, but reopened them almost immediately, scared of falling asleep and getting another nightmare. Maybe he should also go checking out the ship? But Kohaku would get angry at him again if they would accidentally run into each other. Besides, he still felt sick. Not as bad as before he had slept, despite this nightmare, but bad enough not to go on a long walk voluntarily. He had actually felt better for a few minutes when Kohaku had been drying has hair. It had felt save, somehow.

With another sigh, he sat up. Well, he had to do something, so he might as well go brush his hair.

Still angry, Kohaku walked around the ship's hallways, not even paying attention to his surroundings. That idiot. Did Lucille really thing he was some kind of monster that didn't have any feelings? Geez, of course he wouldn't understand, if Lucille didn't even give him the chance!

Somehow he ended up at a dead end of a hallway. A bit disturbed he looked around. Dark here. Darker than in the rest of the ship. Like they were trying to discourage people from going here. Which made it interesting. Besides, he heard or saw no one around, so he carefully checked the walls. No visible secret passage, but there was some weird keyhole in the most far away wall. Not like a normal keyhole, but spider shaped. Much like the crack-mark on guignols. Definitely suspicious.

Footsteps nearby. Quickly, Kohaku got on his way back to the room. Better discuss this with Lucille.

* * *

**I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Next chapter will be uploaded in a few days^^**


	3. Chapter 3

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

**This one is a bit longer than the last, I hope you'll all like it^^**

* * *

"Lucille?" Kohaku said quietly while closing the door behind his back. A little too quiet, maybe, because the singer didn't hear him. He just sat there on the bed, with his back towards Kohaku, slowly brushing his hair. He didn't even seem to notice his own movements, as slow and even as they were. As soundlessly as he could, Kohaku walked closer, to see how close he could get without letting the frail singer noticing his presence.

Less than an inch from the bed, so close he could have touched Lucille easily, he suddenly stopped walking as he heard the faint sound of Lucille humming softly. It wasn't really a song, more of a vague melody, but it sounded so melancholic it made Kohaku wonder what the Hell the singer was thinking about. It didn't seem like something fun. But the humming itself sounded beautiful, and Kohaku couldn't help but to just stand there listening for a moment.

Finally, he walked around the bed, standing right next to Lucille. The singer's face was pale and the look in his eyes seemed so far away, Kohaku wasn't even surprised that the blonde didn't notice him. "Hey, idiot!" Softly, he laid his hand on Lucille's slender shoulder.

The singer practically jumped to his feet, staring at him like he was some kind of ghost. "K-Kohaku," he mumbled after a second, relaxing a bit. A faint blush showed on his cheeks. "I didn't hear you coming in."

"I got that impression," Kohaku replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, I found some weird keyhole in a wall."

"In a wall?"

"That's not the weirdest about it. It's shaped like the mark on a guignol," Kohaku explained.

The look in Lucille's eyes wasn't cloudy anymore at all. "So, we should try to get in." He put down the hairbrush on the bed. "Were there any people?"

"I heard footsteps coming, that's why I came back. Anyway, if we're together, it's easier to come up with an excuse."

"Yeah." Slowly, Lucille stood up. "Just… don't walk too fast. It might look suspicious."

Kohaku just growled. Yeah, like he was going to believe that was the only reason. The singer was obviously still not feeling too good. "Don't be a burden!" If Lucille was that desperate not to show his feelings, both physical and mentally, than why bother to be considerate? Lucille didn't even respond anyway, and just silently followed him to the strange hallway.

At seeing the strange keyhole, the blonde did pale a bit. "That's… definitely something we should see from the inside," he commented. "Not good." He softly touched the keyhole with the tips of his slender fingers, but some strange red glow came from far behind them. With a startled cry, Lucille pulled back.

"What the fuck was that?" Kohaku demanded, like Lucille was supposed to know.

The beautiful singer just looked at his hand, that was slightly red. "Some kind of… laser, I think. It burned my hand a bit." That stupid fake smile again. Like it was fun, getting your hand burned. "Seems even more suspicious."

"Yeah, but how do we open…"

Lucille's face suddenly paled "Crap… We got to get back!"

Before Kohaku could even think, Lucille dragged him back to their room, running. To collapse against him as soon as they reached the door. "Kohaku… You might want to… hurry up. You've got the key, right?" His beautiful face was an alarming shade of green.

"Oh, damn…" As quick as he could, Kohaku opened the door and pushed Lucille towards the bathroom. Just in time, the singer leaned over the toilet seat. In a few seconds, all that was left in his stomach from the last time he threw up, was also gone. Trembling and panting Lucille leaned against the wall.

"Sorry. I couldn't hold it any longer," he mumbled, not looking at Kohaku. "I'm fine now."

"Yeah, right," Kohaku snarled. Without saying anything more, he filled up a glass with water and held in front of the singer.

A little surprised, suspicious even, Lucille looked at him, but he did take the glass. "Thanks."

"Sure," Kohaku growled, a bit embarrassed for showing so much caring. Well, to his standards it was much. If Lucille hadn't been looking so pathetic right now, Kohaku would probably just have walked off, ignoring him. But somehow, the small blonde looked so not like himself. The real human being underneath that beautiful, doll like creature he always seemed, was finally showing. And it was much more hurt and fragile than he had ever thought.

"Kohaku?"

"Hm?"

"Well… can I secretly dump my food on your plate at dinner tonight?" He sounded embarrassed. "I'm not exactly hungry, right now."

With a sigh," Kohaku walked out of the bathroom. "Sure, but you are going to eat at least a little. If we're gonna have to fight guignols, I can't have you fainting from malnutrition."

He heard Lucille chuckle. "Yeah, that would definitely be bad for your health."

For a moment, Kohaku wanted to shout at him that he didn't need him at all. But it didn't feel right to fight with Lucille again, not just after the blonde had threw up. "Idiot."

Lucille didn't bother to respond, and he came walking out of the bathroom a moment later, slamming the door closed behind his back. His face wasn't that pale anymore, but he still didn't look like usual. Something in the way he walked was just a bit off. Well, not that Kohaku cared. Or, at least, he told himself he didn't. So he completely ignored Lucille, as the slender singer sat down on the edge of the bed.

"We should get ready for dinner," the blonde sighed. "Man, I don't want to go."

"Well, you know as good as I do, we have no choice. Especially now we know for sure that there are weird things going on here."

Another sigh. "I know. What's planned for tomorrow?"

"Read that damned schedule yourself once!" Kohaku growled.

"But I'll get even more seasick if I read. Please?" Lucille managed to stretch out the word 'please' so long, that Kohaku gave in just to make him shut up.

"Sports-day. We have team up and do sports like basketball and stuff." That wasn't so bad. Or… He chuckled. "Sports-clothes are being lend out by the ship's company. And women have to wear a skirt."

The look on Lucille's face was worth to remember. "How… short?"

"Well, pretty short, I guess. You have to sport in it." Now he was openly laughing at Lucille. "Come on, It's not like you haven't worn skirts before."

"Yeah, long ones!" With a groan, Lucille let himself drop down on his back, making the bed creak a bit. Lying on his back like that, his slender frame seemed even thinner and more small.

When he caught himself staring at the singer, Kohaku almost slapped himself in the face. Geez, why would he even want to stare at that idiot? "We have to be in the dining hall in thirty minutes, so get up and change clothes. And you'd better tie up your hair a bit."

"Okay," Lucille mumbled. "Are you going to change clothes too?"

"I haven't vomited two times today."

"Mean." Lucille walked to the bathroom to change. When he came back, almost ten minutes later, his long hair was in a braid and he was wearing a long, gothic style skirt. His long sleeved shirt was simple and black, so he wouldn't be too much of an eye-catcher. "Would this be good enough?"

"It is proper attire. And your hair is tied up and you're wearing a skirt, so it should be fine. Anyway, where did you get those clothes?"

"Some guy once gave them to me, when I had to act like a women to make him trust me," Lucille answered vaguely. "I thought it might be useful to keep it."

"Do you also have a dress? For the last evening, there's that ball."

"I do. And you would do my hair, right?"

"Yup."

Lucille smiled, as fake as ever. "Great."

At dinner, all the couples had to sit around one big, round table. It remembered Kohaku of some sort of camp, but classier. Lucille and he sat down in the darkest part of the dining room where no one yet sat, so they could watch the others without dragging too much attention themselves. Despite their efforts, Kohaku noticed several men staring at Lucille, until their wives would get annoyed. It was kind of funny to watch, actually. And it made him feel a bit… No way, that thought was to wrong to even finish!

"Idiot," he growled at Lucille, when the others couldn't hear them anymore.

A bit offended, Lucille glared at him. "What did I do?"

"Never mind."

When the food came, they didn't got to choose, Lucille's face paled. It was a dinner salad with shrimps. The big kind that still has a head. "I think it's staring at me."

"Yeah. I see your point." Lucille probably had been used to classy food once, but Kohaku never had gotten the pleasure. Which right now, he certainly didn't regret. How the Hell was he supposed to eat that damn thing?

"You're supposed to break the head off and skin it before eating it. That's supposed to be the fun." Lucille swallowed. "I'm still to find out what part of it is fun."

"But they do taste good," a woman sitting next to them with her husband commented. "I had never eaten this before."

"I'm sure they do, but… they really stare," Kohaku replied. To be kicked under the table by Lucille.

"He had never even seen them," Lucille explained to the somewhat puzzled woman.

"Yeah, that's the only problem," Kohaku muttered.

"K… Honey, try to be a bit more positive," Lucille said softly.

'You'll pay for calling me that' Kohaku thought. "Sure, babe," he answered instead, forcing himself to smile. This was, without doubt, the most embarrassing thing he had ever had to do. But Lucille's face at the word 'babe' made it a bit easier to bear.

"So, how did you two met each other?" the woman's husband asked.

"At work," Lucille said quickly. "There was just this… spark between us."

"Ah, how cute," the woman giggled, making Kohaku feel a bit murderous. "Me and my hubby met on holiday. We sat next to each other in a café, after my car had broken down and…"

The rest of her story was so boringly cliché, Kohaku really wanted to throw his knife at her. But that would blow their cover, alas. It didn't take long, though, until he felt a soft thud on his shoulder. "L… Lucy?"

The singer just moaned softly. "Seasick." He was leaning fully against Kohaku, his head relaxing on his colleague's shoulder, knowing he wouldn't be yelled at in public right now. "And my head hurts. And my stomach."

That again. "Look, if it's serious, you should find real help."

"Hmmm… I'll be fine once I've slept tonight."

Diner lasted until 10 o'clock, but though Kohaku had eaten enough, besides the shrimps. Lucille only ate some pieces of salad. Now, he was already in his nightclothes, a thin pair of shorts and an even thinner T-shirt, and sitting in bed. "Wait a minute to turn off the light, I'm gonna redress too."

"Oh, you don't have too, if it's too early. I can sleep with the lights on," Lucille said.

Kohaku considered it for a moment, but he decided against it. "What would I have to do? It's a bit boring in this room, you know? And after what we found out, I'm not gonna walk around the ship on my own."

Lucille smiled faintly, not as fake as usual. He probably had already hoped for such an answer. Kohaku didn't bother to leave the main room, he didn't plan on taking a shower anyway. So he just took off his clothes and put on an old T-shirt and cut off pants. After turning off the light, he walked to the bed. It did feel a bit awkward, though, to get in bed next to Lucille. Sleeping in the same car was a lot different from sleeping in a two-sized bed together.

Lucille didn't seem to bother, for some reason. He just laid down on his side, facing Kohaku, groaning a bit. "Ouch, my stomach."

"Go a doctor once we're off this stupid boat."

"It's not a boat, it's a ship," Lucille mumbled, pulling the sheet over his shoulders.

"Whatever," Kohaku growled. Slowly, he laid down too and pulled his part of the sheet up, trying not to make the mattress move too much. If Lucille got sick again, it would be a while before they would be able to sleep. Luckily, the singer just sighed again and closed his eyes. It was too dark to see anything more, but Kohaku was sure Lucille's face was a bit tense. Well, not his problem. In silence, he laid down too, on his back.

"Goodnight," Lucille mumbled.

"Goodnight," Kohaku replied softly.

* * *

**That last scene was really fun to write, for some reason =3**

**Next chapter will be here in a few days^^**


	4. Chapter 4

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

**Not too much action in this chapter. In fact, none at all…**

* * *

Lucille didn't make it easy for Kohaku to get a good night of sleep. He kept tossing and turning awkwardly, moaning almost inaudibly a few times. After a few hours, around midnight, Kohaku just couldn't take it any longer. Groaning annoyed, he rolled on his side and pushed himself up on one elbow. "Lucille?"

"Mm?" Lucille mumbled. "Oh, did I keep you awake? Sorry."

Kohaku sighed. "Try to lay still."

"Mm… I hate ships." He heard Lucille sighing. "I just can't sleep on them. And my sto…"

"Yeah, your head and stomach hurt," Kohaku interrupted him. "Go find a doctor on this damned ship or stop nagging about it."

"Sorry," Lucille whispered. "Just go to sleep, I'll try to lay still."

"Idiot." With his face towards Lucille, he laid back down. The singer did lay still for a while, but then there was some small creak.

With a gasp, Lucille sat up, immediately clutching his stomach. "Damn…"

"It was just a soft creak, you idiot!" Kohaku growled. "What's wrong with you?"

"I…" Lucille carefully laid back down, but even in the dark, Kohaku could see he was in pain. "I was just startled. I just never feel save on ships, that's all. I'll be fine."

"I can feel you trembling, moron!"

"Don't… yell," Lucille begged. "Please."

"Go to sleep," Kohaku growled, and rolled to his other side. This time, it didn't take long before he fell asleep.

Lucille, on the other hand, felt so lonely it almost hurt. He just laid there, staring at Kohaku's back. His stomach hurt so much, it almost made him feel even sicker. Lying down was actually helping against the nausea, but the fear of being on a ship made it worse again. Without him wanting it, his mind drifted back to when he had been on a ship with his parents. His little sister Cordie had been there too, though she hadn't been afraid one bit. Instead, she had loved the feeling of being on the water. Lucille, who had been scared and sick, had been trying to hide it not to spoil he fun.

Of course, she had noticed. And had sneaked into his bed every night, just to comfort him a bit. It had helped, a lot.

But Kohaku just wasn't the type of person to give someone any comfort. Actually, lying in bed like this, so close, but being completely ignored despite how bad he felt, made him feel more lonely than he ever would have thought. But if he would wake him up, he'd probably be yelled at again. And he wouldn't be able to bear that. He'd either yell back or start crying. Or both. And that would just make him feel worse.

The ship creaked again, and he nearly cried out. Kohaku groaned something in his sleep, but didn't wake, luckily. With his heart beating loudly, Lucille closed his eyes. He had to calm down. He had to sleep, in case they would have to fight. Another creak, and it sounded like it was starting to rain. "Kohaku!" It came out as a whine. "Help…"

"What the…" Kohaku growled. He turned on his other side, facing Lucille, and with an angry glare. "Didn't I tell you to go asleep?"

Lucille really tried to keep his composure, but he just couldn't fake feeling fine for any longer. "I'm scared!" He felt himself trembling. "I'm sorry I woke you, but…"

To his surprise, Kohaku didn't yell at him. Instead, the dark-haired man just looked at him, as far as they could see each others in the darkness of the night. "You're really scared, aren't you?"

'Don't ask me why,' Lucille begged without saying anything. "A bit," he replied.

Kohaku sighed. "Idiot." Without any explanation, he crawled closer to Lucille and pulled the slender singer against him. With his arm relaxed over Lucille's slim shoulders, he finally spoke again. "Can you sleep now?"

Almost too stunned to answer, Lucille nodded. "Thank you."

Kohaku growled. "Sure. But if you ever tell about this to anyone, I'm the thing you should be scared of!"

In fact, it wasn't even such a bad feeling, having the small body of the singer in his arms. Awkward, yes, but not gross or anything. Besides, he could feel Lucille's trembling stop after just a few minutes. He wasn't asleep yet, though. "Mmf… Kohaku?" Lucille mumbled.

"Yeah?"

A deep sigh. "You're a good medication against seasickness."

Kohaku couldn't help but to chuckle. "Well, don't get too used to it."

He heard Lucille laugh faintly. The blonde's frail body was getting warmer, and Kohaku felt him slowly drifting off to sleep. Suddenly, his breathing evened out, and he went completely limp.

"Lucille?" No response, beside a soft sigh. "Idiot," Kohaku mumbled, more to prove to himself that he didn't really care, than anything else. It didn't take long before he fell asleep.

Next morning, Kohaku woke up earlier than usual. And, as he had suspected, Lucille was still sleeping deeply. Somewhere during the night, he had rolled over to his back without getting out of Kohaku's embrace. His hair laid sprawled underneath his body, and a few strands laid over his chest. The soft morning light made his skin look even more creamy than usual. Suddenly, he sighed softly and turned his face towards Kohaku. "Mm…"

Geez, why was he even staring at that idiot like this? Annoyed with himself, Kohaku got out of bed and grabbed some clothes together. In the process, he glanced at the clock. Only half past six, breakfast wasn't being served before nine. Might as well go back to bed for a while, catching a little more sleep. They could have used this time to examine that strange keyhole again, but part of him was reluctant to wake up Lucille right now. The blonde's body could obviously use the sleep.

With a yawn, he let himself drop back on the bed, pulling up the sheets over his legs and chest. Unconsciously, Lucille moved his left arm, the one closest to Kohaku and laid it over Kohaku's stomach. Geez, that idiot really acted like a child. Still, he just knew that there was more reason behind this plain fear of the sea, than Lucille wanted to show. How Lucille had acted last night, that wasn't seasickness anymore, it had been far worse. A lot of people got sick by the movements of the waves underneath the ship, but practically panicking with every damn creak, that wasn't normal.

And how Lucille kept complaining about his head and stomach, that was probably just because of stress. If it would really been bothering the singer, he would have been more eager to find some doctor, right? Still, last night while holding him, Kohaku had felt how terribly thin Lucille actually was. Of course, his body was nicely toned, even slightly feminine, but way too skinny. Visibly, he looked just a bit too slender, but it had almost scared Kohaku to realize he could count Lucille's ribs. Had he always been like that?

Problem was, he couldn't know for sure. Like said, Lucille certainly didn't look bad, neither did he look significantly thinner than a few days ago. Only by touching him, Kohaku had noticed. But it wasn't like he made it a daily thing to hug the blonde to check on his weigh. Eles probably would have noticed it anyway, if he had really been losing weight, since she was the only one he hugged occasionally, whether it was teasingly or to protect her. Question was, would she have spoken up about it? She might have kept quiet not to make him feel uncomfortable or something stupid like that. Or Lucille was so self-aware that he managed not to let her feel his bones.

With an annoyed sigh he closed his eyes. Why did he even care about this?

* * *

**Short chapter, I know. I'll try to make the next one longer^^**

**I'll update soon**


	5. Chapter 5

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! I haven't gotten any reviews yet T^T)

**Lucille in a short skirt XD**

* * *

With a deep sigh, Lucille woke up and felt the faint movement of the ship underneath him. It made his stomach turn slightly. With another deep sigh, he opened his beautiful, big eyes and looked at the other side of the bed. Kohaku was lying there on his side, eyes closed. And his hand on Lucille's arm. The slender singer couldn't help but to chuckle a bit, at the thought of how Kohaku would look if he'd wake up right now. He'd probably threaten to kill Lucille if he'd tell anyone.

"Hey, Kohaku!" Softly, he pulled away his arm, and shook Kohaku's shoulder. His colleague groaned softly and turned on his back. "Wake up!"

"Shut up!" Without waking up, Kohaku took a hit in Lucille direction, and hit the slim singer in his stomach.

It hurt a lot more than it should have. Actually, it hurt so much, Lucille couldn't help but cry out from pain. The sudden nausea was almost too much, and he had to force himself not to throw up. Well, at least it woke up Kohaku. The dark haired man immediately leaned over him, startled. "Lucille? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard…" Lucille saw the faint suspicion in his eyes. Kohaku knew damn well he hadn't hit hard at all, and this pain had to do with something entirely different.

"I-I feel sick," Lucille mumbled.

"Hey…" Kohaku abruptly stopped talking when he laid a hand on Lucille's fore head. "You've got a bit of a fever! Why didn't you say so, you moron?"

"Because I didn't know." He closed his eyes. "More importantly, what kind of torture are we having to undergo today?"

Grumbling something, Kohaku sat up. "I already told you, sports day. You have to wear a skirt, remember?"

"Damn…" To make things worse, he was starting to get a headache. Nice conditions to sport in, not. Well, he'd had to get up, no matter how he felt. Slowly, he opened his eyes again and got out of bed. After both of them got dressed without saying a word to each other, they left for the dining room. Kohaku walked at a pretty fast pace, and Lucille had some trouble keeping up with him. He didn't ate anything except for a small piece of bread. Though that didn't really count, as Kohaku had practically shoved it down the blonde's throat.

"Looks nice," Kohaku chuckled, when Lucille reluctantly came out of the dressing-room. The white shirt was a bit loose, so luckily that wouldn't give any problems regarding the absence of boobs. And the short skirt, in a bright shade of blue, actually looked a bit cute on him.

"Shut up," Lucille grumbled, getting a bit red. "Just let's go to the gym."

"Sure, babe." With a grin, Kohaku started walking, being followed by a rather moody Lucille.

Of all things possible, they had to play tennis, in teams of two. Kohaku had noticed Lucille's increasingly pale face as he had to keep jumping and running at balls coming in his direction. Still, he was the better one of their team, and they would have lost if both of them were as bad as Kohaku. Okay, he just sucked. It wasn't that he couldn't aim, he just couldn't seem to hit that damned ball at all. So every time, Lucille had to jump in to prevent their opponents from winning.

"Oi, you don't have to take this stupid game so seriously," he hissed at the blonde, when the latter almost tripped and fell against him.

"I know, but this is fun," Lucille replied with a weak smile. His beautiful face was covered in sweat and he was panting. "Besides, we have to look serious, not to draw unwanted attention."

"Moron," Kohaku hissed, missing another ball. Lucille quickly ran to it, hitting it back. And then dropped his tennis bat to the floor, his body slowly following after it. "L… Lucy!" In his shock, he had almost called him by his real name, but the people around were to startled to notice the stuttering anyway. "Hey! Can you hear me?" he yelled, pulling Lucille's body into a sitting position, holding his upper body tightly.

The frail singer didn't respond, and neither did he open his eyes. He did sigh softly, and after Kohaku had patted him on his cheek, he slowly woke op. "Eh? What happened?" he mumbled, opening his eyes a bit.

Kohaku felt the slender body, resting against his, trembling a little. "You collapsed. Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I think I just overexerted myself a bit." Blushing a bit, he pulled his legs together, so the skirt wouldn't show too much. "I'm fine, I just need a little break." A deep shiver went through him, and even Kohaku felt it. "And maybe something against the fever."

"Can you walk to the infirmary?" a sailor girl suddenly asked. Kohaku hadn't even seen her coming.

Lucille nodded faintly. "K… honey, if you'll help me, I'll be fine."

"Sure… babe," Kohaku replied, as nicely as possible. Keeping their covers was one thing, but calling each other like that… He just plain hated it. Carefully, he stood up, pulling Lucille with him. The singer could barely keep his balance, and Kohaku had to nearly drag him through the hallways. "Lucy? You still okay?"

"Yeah. Just… crap…" He went limp, but not before punching Kohaku's shoulder to tell him he was faking it this time.

"Lucy?" Quickly, Kohaku lifted Lucille in his arms. "Hey, can you hear me?" Lucille punched him again, invisible for any other person. Kohaku got the hint, and rested Lucille's head on his shoulder, close to his ear.

"Tell her to keep me in the infirmary for a few hours, we can sneak around when they leave us alone," Lucille breathed.

"Is she all right?" the sailor girl asked, with a look of worry on her face that was so fake it almost looked like plastic.

"She will be, but when she gets sick, it usually helps if she lies down for a while. As soon as possible."

"The infirmary is over here, she can sleep on one of the hospital beds for a few hours," the sailor girl pointed.

Kohaku noticed there wasn't any nurse or doctor in the room. Were those sailors really the only employees here? Come to think of it, he never had seen any employee in another uniform than a sailor style one. Didn't this ship have a captain, or cooks, or anything? Well, asking about that right now would look suspicious, so he just walked over to the closest bed and laid Lucille down on it. "Thank you very much," he said to the sailor girl. Lucille pinched him once again. "Oh, right. Do you happen to have any medicine that works against fever and seasickness?"

"Not specifically, I'm afraid," she replied, plastic smile on her face. Geez, what kind of crappy infirmary was this? "We do have some bottles of aspirins, they're on the shelf over there. You can help yourself to them, if you want. Glasses and water you can get there." She pointed at a small sink in the corner.

"Okay, thanks." Kohaku sat down on the edge of the bed, with his back in her direction on purpose. It had the right effect, she left. They waited a few minutes in silence, though, in case she might come back.

"Kohaku?" Lucille finally whispered. "Before we go checking that weird keyhole again, could you get me some aspirins?" He didn't open his eyes. "My head really hurts."

"Sure," Kohaku growled, trying not to sound too worried. "I'll be right back."

* * *

**Aww, Kohaku is almost being sweet to Lucille ;3**

**Next chapter will be here soon. (maybe even sooner if I get some reviews)^^**


	6. Chapter 6

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

* * *

Despite his efforts to act like he was fine, Lucille fell behind before they had even left the infirmary. The blonde was still pale and not too steady on his feet, but Kohaku didn't wait too long for him to catch up. "We gotta hurry, before they're gonna heck up on us," he hissed. Lucille shot a glare at him, but didn't reply otherwise. He almost tripped over the doorstep, grabbing Kohaku's arm to keep on his feet. "Hey." Almost worried, Kohaku looked at him closely. "I can go alone, if you'd rather stay here to sleep a bit."

"You'd get killed if they'd catch you, or even be bitten and turned into one of them." A bit clumsily, Lucille steadied himself and let go of Kohaku's arm. "It's just the fever, but the aspirins are already starting to kick in. You took the bottle with you, right?"

Which meant that the singer felt like he would need them again, in some hours. "Yeah, they're in my pocket."

"Okay."

"You really feel that bad?"

"I'm seasick, and I think I caught some kind of virus, so yes I do," Lucille growled, obviously thinking Kohaku had meant it as a complaint.

"I was only asking, you idiot!" Kohaku growled back.

Lucille didn't respond, he just walked on, a bit faster. Some doors ahead, there were people talking. "Wait," Lucille whispered. This door was bigger than the rest, maybe the captains office? They stopped before it, carefully listening.

"Friday… at dance…" was all they could understand, and Kohaku was just about to complain, when they heard something interesting. "We'll get good money… all those idiots… women turning… into guignols.. sell them.."

Another voice responded. "Door… won't… they escape?"

The first voice answered, sounding annoyed. "No… moron. Only from the outside… needs crack mark to open. Only I… the skin piece…"

Footsteps came towards the door, and quickly, Kohaku grabbed Lucille's arm, pulling him away. For a second, he was convinced they would get caught, but as they ran into a different hallway, close to their room, he realized the people who had came out of the office had gone the other way. "Geez…" Lucille hissed, gasping for breath. "That was… disturbing."

"We gotta solve this before the ball next Friday, or we'll be in trouble," Kohaku said. "Damn!"

"We have to get that piece of guignol skin with the mark on it," Lucille mumbled. "But… let's get in our room first."

Back inside, Lucille sat down on the bed immediately. His headache was lessened, just like the stomachache, but now he was getting a bit lightheaded. In surprise he looked up when the mattress moved a bit, indicating that Kohaku had sat down next to him. The dark-haired man looked at him inquisitive, and maybe a bit worried. "Fever's gone down yet?"

"I think so," Lucille replied. Since when did Kohaku care? He had seemed worried after Lucille had fainted, but the singer had thought that had only been for show. He didn't dare to doubt that. Didn't dare to take the risk of being hurt again. People whom he cared about had a tendency to get killed, after all. Well, Kohaku didn't seem to care that much anyway, he didn't even bother to check Lucille's fever himself. Well, not that Lucille cared about that. Not really.

"So, we gotta get that crack mark to get in, but that bastard is probably not leaving it unprotected on his desk." Lucille sighed. "So, any ideas?"

"Breaking in at night? Maybe it's in some kind of safe in that office," Kohaku suggested. "We should be able to break the lock."

"Without getting noticed? If they discover that the lock is broken, they'll know it has to have been someone on this ship." And what if the captain kept the thing in his pocket all the time? No way they'll be able to lend it without asking and without anyone noticing it in that case. But then again, it seemed more probable that it was hidden inside the office, or maybe in a private room. If not in the office, they would have to find out where the captain slept.

"We can at least go search, and if we just pick the lock instead of really breaking it, no one will notice."

A sudden knock on the door startled them both, and Kohaku stood up from the bed. "Who's there?"

"The leader of the sports day sent me to check if you are all right, since you weren't in the infirmary anymore I came here," a girl's voice answered. "Could you please open the door?"

"Okay," Kohaku replied, and then hissed to Lucille; "Act like you're sleeping!"

Quickly, Lucille shifted and laid down, on his back with his head on a pillow. The sound of the door being opened was the sign to close his eyes. Trying hard to stay limp and keep his breathing even, he listened to the conversation.

"I assume you won't be rejoining today's activities?" the sailor girl asked softly, obviously believing Lucille was asleep.

"No, h… she's feeling rather sleepy because of the aspirins, and the fever hasn't completely gone yet. She should be fine by tomorrow, though," Kohaku answered, also with the volume down.

"That's good. Then I just have to inform you that dinner will be at seven o'clock tonight, we'll be serving various kinds of seafood."

Hell no. Not those shrimps again. Lucille felt his stomach turn just thinking about them. Even as a child, he ad hated them. He didn't have a problem with fish or meat at all, he just couldn't understand how people could be comfortable eating something while it's head was still staring at them. "We'll be there," Kohaku promised, a subtle tone in his voice that the sailor probably hadn't noticed, but which told Lucille that Kohaku had also thought of the awful shrimps. The conversation went on a little longer, but due to the girl's predictable questions, it became so pointless that Lucille didn't bother listening anymore.

A ray of sunlight shone through the small, round window, touching his face. With a soft sigh, he turned his face towards it and relaxed.

"I'll be going then. Have a nice afternoon," the girl greeted, when she finally stopped nagging about schedules and dinner.

"You too. Bye." Quickly, Kohaku closed the door behind her, and walked back to the bed. The blonde didn't move, his eyes still closed. "Hey, you can get up now." No reaction. And Lucille's pale face seemed suspiciously relaxed. "You awake?" Again, no response.

"Geez…" Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he looked at his colleague, pondering whether to wake him up or not. They should be talking about their assignment now, no matter how tired Lucille felt. So he softly shook the blonde's shoulder.

"Hm?" Lucille moaned, rolling from his back to his side, facing away from Kohaku. "Let me sleep."

"Come on, idiot!" Roughly, Kohaku pushed him against his back, nearly making him fall off the bed. With an angry groan, Lucille sat up, glaring at him.

"Was that necessary?"

"Yes. Anyway, what's the plan? Are we gonna try to steal that thing tonight?"

With a sigh, Lucille dropped down on his back again, making the mattress creak. "I guess we should. But we should also be careful, though. We're still stuck on this ship for five days, so if they catch us, were pretty much doomed."

"I think I can pick the lock on the door without too much trouble, but we don't know where that captain keeps the skin piece. Might not even be in that room."

"But it's our easiest lead. I'm more worried what he keeps it in. If it's some kind of safe, it's going to be hard to get it to open without a code."

Lucille seemed barely able to keep his eyes open, probably still due to the aspirins. "Okay, let's just go there tonight, and we'll see. And for now, you try to get some sleep. We'd better be as prepared as possible, in case they'll be serving those shrimps again."

* * *

**This was a short one, sorry. But I've been busy with school and work. **

**Anyway, next chapter will be here in some days^^**


	7. Chapter 7

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

* * *

They did serve those shrimps again at dinner, but luckily they got to choose from a menu this time. Kohaku noticed that Lucille barely ate more than a few bites, but didn't bother to ask anything. It wasn't like he would get an honest answer. There were also no annoying woman with cliché love stories this time, which made his mood a lot better. And then there was Lucille, who had laid his head on Kohaku's shoulder, a moment ago. That didn't do too much good for his mood.

"Sit normal!" he hissed, so other people, and most importantly those weird sailor girls, wouldn't hear it.

"But my head hurts," Lucille complained quietly.

"Then you should've taken another aspirin."

"But you can only take those with so many hours in between, or they'll make you even sicker." A shaky sigh. "I can't take another one until an hour from now."

Kohaku wanted to snap at him, but Lucille looked so pale and downright pitiful that it just didn't feel right. "Look, I can go alone tonight if you need to sleep more."

The singer softly shook his blonde head. "That would be too dangerous, just as discussing that while we're here."

"I know," Kohaku growled. "Geez, I only tried to be nice to you."

"Yeah, and thanks for that. But I'll be fine if I just take an aspirin and sleep before and after… you know."

"Whatever."

Dessert was served, vanilla and stracciatella ice cream with amaretto and chocolate sprinkles. For the first time since they had been on the boat, Lucille actually ate his entire portion, instead of just a few bites. He didn't seem to feel a lot better, though. Swallowing seemed a task he didn't really enjoy, but he kept eating without hesitance. Meaning he probably liked the ice-cream enough to want to taste it, even if he felt sick. Since there wasn't a way to ask him about it without sounding like he cared, Kohaku just kept shut.

"Kohaku?" Lucille asked suddenly, his voice so quiet Kohaku nearly missed it.

"Hm?" he responded, without pausing from eating.

"Could…" Lucille sighed, apparently trying to find enough courage to ask what he wanted to ask. "Could you, after what we got to do, keep close to me during the night? Being on a ship… it scares me so much when I feel alone, lying in bed in the darkness."

Was that idiot actually asking to be held? But looking at Lucille's face, the way the singer stared at the table like he was trying to shield himself from anything bad Kohaku could say… Even Kohaku wasn't cold enough to not see how vulnerable Lucille was right now, after asking that. Geez, how scared was that idiot anyway, if it actually made him be honest about his feelings? "Where else would I go?" he growled.

"Hey, you don't have to hug me or anything, not like last night." The blonde blushed a bit. "Just… let me hold your hand, and don't let go of mine."

For a moment, Kohaku just stared at him. "Well, okay. But get one thing straight; what happens on this ship, stays on this ship. If you ever talk about what happens here between us when we're out of here, you won't live long!" He hissed that last part, so no one else would hear. This probably wasn't something that newlyweds would say to each other.

Suddenly, Lucille coughed softly, and then smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm eating a bit too fast."

"Hey you don't hear me complaining. At least you are finally eating normally." Kohaku had finished his ice-cream and watched how Lucille slowly finished his. "If you like that kind of ice-cream so much, then why don't you ever buy it?"

"Because it's not necessary to eat it. It's more useful to buy bread and stuff." Lucille sighed. "I used to love it as a child, though. My parents always made one of the servants get it for me." With a distant look in his eyes, he stared at the empty plate in front of him. "Well, that was before…" His voice trailed off, every hint of a smile disappearing from his beautiful face.

"L…Lucy?" Kohaku asked, while one of the ship's employees walked by.

"Hm?" Immediately, Lucille's smile was back in place, like a wall to hide his feelings behind. "Did you say anything?"

Kohaku just growled at him, something like "idiot", and stood up. "Let's get back to our room, okay?"

"Okay," Lucille sighed. Slowly, he stood up too, and followed Kohaku out of the dining room. In their room, Lucille sat down on the bed immediately, and picked up the schedule from the table next to it. "Geez…"

"What?" Kohaku asked, not sure if he wanted to know.

"A theatre workshop tomorrow. Well, it could be worse." A short silence. "And it gets. The day after tomorrow, there'll be an origami workshop. Nice, paper folding all day long."

"About the theatre thing, what does that include?"

"Everyone on the boat will have to do a play, without audience or anything, just for fun."

"What play?" Kohaku asked reluctantly.

Lucille giggled, what didn't seem like a good sign. "'Romeo and Juliet'. I almost feel bad about the persons who'll have to be them."

"With some luck we'll just have to be trees or bushes," Kohaku sighed. "Man, I can't wait 'till this stupid assignment is over!" With a thud he sat down next to Lucille, making the mattress wobble a bit. Lucille didn't respond, he just let himself drop down on his back and fell asleep instantly.

Around midnight, he was woken up by Kohaku. "What?" he mumbled tiredly, wiping his eyes.

"That room, the skin piece with the crack mark. Get up, idiot!"

"Oh… yeah, right." Slowly, he sat up, feeling a bit nauseous. "Give me a sec, okay?"

"You all right?"

Lucille took a deep sigh, and then nodded. "Just feeling a bit sick, that's all. I'll be fine in a moment."

"Okay."

After sitting there with his eyes closed for a few moments, Lucille stood up. "Let's go."

In silence, they walked to the office room. Luckily, the hallways were dark and empty. Still, it almost gave him a heart attack when Kohaku picked the lock on the door, and it made a loud snap. No one came looking what the sound had been, and Lucille sighed relieved. In silence he followed Kohaku into the room, closing the door behind them. "I'll take the cabinet, you take the desk," Lucille hissed. Kohaku nodded in agreement.

At first sight, all drawers seemed to be just filled up with paperwork. But in the lowest drawer, behind another pile of papers, was a small metal box. Carefully, Lucille took it out. It had a lock on it, as expected. "Hey, Kohaku! I found something!" he whispered.

"What?" Kohaku asked, walking to him.

"Seems like a safe, though a small one."

"Really small." Kohaku took over the box and inspected the keyhole. "It would take hours to open that thing!"

"But can you do it?" Lucille asked hopefully.

"Well," Kohaku mumbled. "I might. If I had more equipment. And even then I wouldn't be sure."

"Damn," Lucille hissed. "So what now?"

"Let's put it back and get the Hell out of this room before we get caught." Carefully, Kohaku put back the box and closed the drawer. "We'll have to find a way to open it, maybe with some pieces of metal, or a knife. But we can discuss that later."

Back in their room, Lucille didn't feel like discussing anything. All he wanted right now was to get undressed, crawl up in bed and sleep for some hours. No fair, Kohaku hadn't even slept yet tonight, and he didn't look the tiniest bit tired. "I'm going to sleep."

"Me too," Kohaku responded, already taking off his shirt. Lucille also undressed, but didn't bother to brush his teeth or hair.

Lying warmly underneath the bed sheets, he looked up at Kohaku. "Remember your promise," he mumbled, a bit scared about his own feelings. But acting vulnerable seemed much less scared that the deep feeling of loneliness, in the darkness and knowing he was surrounded by miles of water. 'No, don't think about that,' he told himself, feeling his stomach clutch.

"Moron," Kohaku growled, turning off the light. Lucille closed his eyes, feeling the mattress wobble when Kohaku laid down next to him. Would the dark-haired man just ignore him? He was almost surprised when he felt a warm, strong hand grabbing his slender one. "I can't promise I won't let go of your hand when I'm asleep."

Lucille smiled faintly. "Doesn't matter, I'll fall asleep sooner than you anyway." He still didn't feel completely safe, but the feeling of being physically connected with someone did help. Kohaku said something, but the blonde was already too far away to hear what exactly. He just sighed and felt himself drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**I'm a bit late with this chapter, sorry! I've been busy with school and work last week.**

**Next chapter will be here in a week^^**


	8. Chapter 8

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

* * *

In the midst of the night, Lucille suddenly woke with a startle. Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut. Great, why couldn't he just sleep all to the morning? Probably because the world hated him. Or maybe, more likely, because someone was silently moving through their room, inspecting their suitcases. With his eyes nearly closed, though it was too dark to be caught on being awake anyway, he stared at the person. After a while, when his eyes had adjusted a bit to the darkness, he recognized the sailor uniform that all the employees seemed to wear.

Immediately, he was wide awake. Had they been seen while breaking in to the office? Or had they unknowingly acted suspiciously past day? Or maybe this was just a regular checkup on their victims… err… passengers. Either way, he'd have to warn Kohaku.

Tossing clumsily over to his left side, like he was asleep, he pulled up the sheet to over both their heads, and at the same time got close enough to his colleague to almost feel his breath upon his skin. Carefully, he poked Kohaku in his stomach to wake him up. It did work quickly, but he had to put his hand over the dark-haired man's mouth to prevent him from snapping at him. Hopefully, the sailor girl hadn't seen that sudden movement. And luckily, Kohaku understood what was wrong quite fast, for someone who had just been woken up in a rather uncomfortable way.

"She's going through our stuff," Lucille breathed, almost inaudibly, removing his hand from Kohaku's face.

"Damn," Kohaku breathed. "You got anything suspicious in there?"

"As long as she doesn't pay too much attention to my underwear, we'll be fine. And how about your suitcase?"

"Nothing much, just my violin and a small gun. But that's nothing out of the ordinary, these days."

The sailor had stopped moving suddenly, and Lucille almost held in his breath when he was convinced for a moment that she had heard them talking. He almost sighed in relieve, when he heard her looking through stuff again, but that probably would have been too suspicious. So instead, he just searched underneath the sheet to get hold of Kohaku's hand. He didn't miss the death glare that the other man gave him, but decided that it was better to ignore that right now.

"What the Hell are you doing?" Kohaku breathed, burying his fingernails in Lucille's slim hand.

The singer flinched, but didn't pull back. "If I cry out now because the ship creaks, she'll surely find out that we're awake."

Obviously, Kohaku couldn't argue about that. Still, Lucille felt how reluctantly Kohaku's hand was holding his. It hurt him a bit, somehow. Even though he knew their relationship wasn't nearly considered friendship. Well, this wasn't the right time to complain about that, especially since the sailor girl stepped closer to the bed. Quickly, Lucille closed his eyes and tried to relax his body. Come on, no one would believe he was sleeping if he was this tense. Forcing himself to breathe deeply and regular, he listened to her footsteps stopping at the side of the bed.

Now, even Kohaku seemed a bit scared. At least, Lucille felt the other man's hand softening around his, like he really was holding his hand out of his own free will. Not that Lucille was complaining about that, of course. It honestly felt quite reassuring. He would never tell that to Kohaku, obviously. He probably would just get angry if Lucille did dare to, and that wasn't a risk that the slim, frail singer was willing to take. After having been through all he had already, he wouldn't do that to himself voluntarily.

The sheets were pulled down a little, startling him away from his thoughts. He almost opened his eyes, but managed to only groan sleepily just in time. Though he felt Kohaku squeezing his hand angrily, the girl seemed to believe they really were asleep. After just a moment, she pulled the sheets back up, and they heard her leave the room, re-locking the door behind her back. Still, they waited for at least five minutes before moving, to make sure she really was gone, and not coming back anytime soon.

"Geez," Kohaku sighed finally. "That was damn scary. And what was that stupid groan for, you moron?"

"She startled me," Lucille defended himself, glaring at his colleague.

Kohaku clearly wasn't impressed. "Idiot!" he growled, roughly letting go of Lucille's hand.

Even now his eyes were a bit used to the darkness, and he could just see a faint shadow that was Kohaku's body, he felt the tension build up inside his body the moment he lost physical contact. "You promised!" he complained, hoping it didn't sound too childish.

"How old are you? Sleep by yourself!" With those words, Kohaku turned over on his other side, facing away from Lucille.

"Fine," the blonde snapped back, also tossing over to his other side. Though he tried to sound as annoyed as Kohaku, he in fact already felt the panic inside his mind. No, he wasn't a small child anymore. It was just a ship, and open water wasn't anything to be scared of either. Just act like a man.

Shivering a bit, he crawled deeper underneath the sheets, practically hiding under them. With his eyes squeezed shut tightly, he tried his best not to think about his current environment anymore, pretending it was just the car they were in. Not a ship. Not with water surrounding them for miles and miles, nowhere near a coast. All alone… Moaning quietly, he curled into himself. Okay, different idea. Why not just think about absolutely nothing?

Which proved not to work, as he could practically see the deep, dark ocean surrounding them in his mind. Only in his mind, he wasn't here with all the people on this ship. Neither was he with Kohaku, who's presence wasn't even registered by his panicking mind anymore. No, he was alone. Not by choice, but because of punishment. And he, almost unable not to hide behind his smile, couldn't do anything about it. Slowly, the dark ocean in his mind started to suck him in, not like water, but like quicksand. Struggling for breath, he started to squirm. It only made matters worse.

"Oi!" A hark slap against his cheek pulled him back to reality, but the nightmare had been so vivid he couldn't help but to scream on top of his lungs. Another slap against his cheek silenced him. "What's your damn problem?"

Shivering, and secretly fighting off his tears, he stared at Kohaku's face. The dark-haired man was sitting up in bed, leaning over him carefully. "N-nothing." His voice was trembling, he could hear it himself. "Just a-a… nightmare. That's a-all."

For a second, he was convinced that Kohaku would smack him again. But nothing came. "Idiot," Kohaku growled finally. "You looked like you were being dragged to Hell or something. And my ears are still ringing from that scream you just gave! And you say 'that's all'?"

"I'm sorry," Lucille mumbled, closing his eyes tiredly. "I-I'm sorry…" His breathing hitched when he felt the tears stinging in his eyes, making him wonder what exactly he'd apologized for. For screaming Kohaku deaf? Or for that stupid mistake he made, all those years ago, and all those things he had done after that.

"Lucille…" At lost about what he should say or do next, Kohaku just stared at the beautiful, slim body underneath him. Suddenly, he saw something sparkle faintly, just below the singer's thick eyelashes. No way, that idiot was actually trying not to cry in front of him? Okay, that was understandable. Kohaku knew he'd never be accused of being particularly compassionate. But still, how pale and terrified Lucille had looked in his sleep, even though Kohaku couldn't see him that good in the darkness of their room, wasn't something he'd soon forget.

And it made him feel kinda guilty about refusing to hold Lucille's hand for any longer.

"Hngg," Lucille moaned suddenly, alarming Kohaku that the singer was starting to get trapped in a nightmare again. Quickly, he shook the blonde's frail shoulder to wake him, being aware of the slightly darkened spot on Lucille's cheek. That would probably be a bruise by tomorrow. Well, at least the singer opened his eyes without screaming this time.

"Don't fall asleep while you're still this shaken up!" he warned.

"But I'm so tired," Lucille groaned. "Please…"

"Ah, damn. Come here, you moron!" Being glad that the blonde wouldn't be able to see his face in the dark, he laid back down and pulled the slender body in his arms. "If you're that scared of ships, this better helps!"

"It's not ships," Lucille mumbled, crawling as close against Kohaku's body as he could. "It's more importantly the open water. Didn't I already tell you?"

"Open water?"

With a deep sigh, Lucille buried his head underneath the sheets. "Never mind. Goodnight, Kohaku."

"Goodnight," Kohaku mumbled back, closing his eyes.

This time, he fell asleep before Lucille did, not being able to know that the beautiful, frail man lying in his arms, was crying silently.

* * *

**Okay, the ending was a bit… depressing. But Kohaku comforting him was supposed to be cute;3**

**Anyway, next chapter will be here in a few days^^**


	9. Chapter 9

SUMMARY: On an… awkward undercover mission, Lucille and Kohaku are forced to trust each other more than they wanted. Lucille gets seasick, Kohaku gets annoyed with both him, and his own feelings.

Rated M for what might happen. Warning: shounen-ai, and maybe yaoi later.

The story is named after a song that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, I just like the name XD

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R

* * *

Curled up underneath the sheets and his body pressed tightly against Kohaku's, he should feel so warm and cozy, he'd fall asleep in no time. His thoughts, though, were so full of coldness and pain, it almost made him shiver. Wondering if it would do him any good to wake up his colleague, he opened his wet eyes and looked at Kohaku's face. It was barely visible in the darkness, but Lucille could see it well enough to know that the dark-haired man was fast asleep, and probably dreaming. Meaning it would be cruel to wake him up now, after they had both already been awake half the night.

But Kohaku being asleep, meant that he also couldn't hear anything Lucille told him. "I… I'd wish you weren't always so rough on me. 'Cause I'd really like to talk to you about some things, but I'm too afraid to. But… but I…" He sobbed helplessly. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up! I feel so lonely, being with you without any feelings between us. But if we become as much as friends, you'd end up getting killed for sure, and it'd be my fault. Again!"

Kohaku sighed softly and stirred a bit. Immediately, Lucille fell silent, begging his colleague not to wake and see his tears. Luckily, Kohaku didn't. Still, it might be a better idea just to try and fall asleep.

With a deep, slow sigh, he closed his eyes again, feeling and hearing Kohaku breathe. Now, he felt a lot less scared of the deep, lonely ocean around them. The fear wasn't completely gone, still present in the back corners of his mind, but being close to someone made him feel like he could never be completely alone. Lifting up his head a little, so he could feel his colleague's breath on his face, he almost felt safe. Safe enough, at least, to fall asleep finally.

Waking up was an entirely different case. His head was pounding, and all he wanted was for that annoying bastard to leave him alone already, so he could sleep some more. Too bad, that wasn't what Kohaku had in mind. "We're late for breakfast, moron! Wake up already!"

"Nng… Don't wanna…" Lucille moaned. "Tired."

"Then go to bed early tonight!" Roughly, Kohaku pulled him in a sitting position, with the only effect that Lucille slumped against him, still half asleep. "I said, wake UP!" With that, he slapped the frail singer in his face, finally getting the effect he wanted. Lucille finally snapped awake, giving him such a glare, it almost scared him.

"Bastard," Lucille growled. "That hurt."

"Then you should've woken up in the first place!" Kohaku growled back. "Now get dressed!"

"All right, because you're asking it so nicely." Slowly, Lucille got out of bed, feeling a bit lightheaded. With his eyes closed, he stood still for a moment. "Damn, I don't feel good," he mumbled, half hoping his colleague would be a at least a tiny bit worried about him. Small chance.

"Just hurry, moron!"

"Hm…" Lucille mumbled. Had the walls been moving the entire time or..? With a shaky sigh, he closed his eyes again. "Give me a second, okay?"

"Whatever." It was silent for a moment. "Hey, don't faint or something."

Was that considered worry? He could fool himself and think so. "I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy. Guess I didn't sleep enough." He wobbled a bit.

"Sit down!" Kohaku practically dragged him down, forcing him to sit. "Now wait until your head clears up."

His arm was still around Lucille's small shoulders, and the frail singer had to force himself not to lean into Kohaku more than necessary. The dark-haired man's arms felt so steady and strong. And safe, somehow. Different than it had been at night, when Lucille had been scared, but soothing either way. His head cleared up almost instantly, and when he reopened his eyes, the dizziness was completely gone. Whit a relieved sigh, Lucille smiled at Kohaku. "Thanks. I'm fine now."

Was it just his imagination, or did his colleague have a slight blush on his face? "Nice. Get dressed now, so we can get some breakfast already."

"Okay." Silently, Lucille grabbed some clothes and put them on. Brushing his hair seemed like too much of an effort at first, but he had too much tangles in his hair not to brush it. Reluctantly, he grabbed his hairbrush and looked at it like it was that thing its fault that he was so tired.

"It's not going to bite, you know?" Kohaku commented dryly.

"I know that." Lucille couldn't help but to chuckle a bit. "I don't feel like brushing my hair."

"Well, too bad for you, you look like an electrocuted poodle."

"Thanks," Lucille grinned, sitting down on the bed but not doing anything else.

"Give me that, we don't have all day," Kohaku growled, taking the hairbrush out of Lucille's hand. Softly, he started to brush Lucille's hair, Starting with the tangles at the bottom and working up from there. "Done," he noted after a few minutes, dropping the hairbrush on the bed. "Now let's go, I'm hungry."

"All right," Lucille replied softly. "Thank you." For some reason, it hurt a bit to know that wanting breakfast was the only reason that Kohaku had been nice to him. Not that he would ever be able to tell his colleague that, of course. Quietly, he followed Kohaku out the door, through the hallways leading to the dining room. It was already quite filled up with people there, but in the most faraway corner, there were some empty tables left.

"If you already sit down somewhere, I'll get us something to eat at the buffet," Kohaku said. "Anything specific you want?"

"Something sweet, and not too much. And some black coffee with sugar," Lucille answered, not too enthusiastic.

"Okay, I'll come to you in a minute." Kohaku left for the buffet, and Lucille walked towards the tables, choosing the one against the wall to sit down at. Mainly because it was a bit away from the rest of the people, so a lot calmer. After barely having slept last night, he didn't really enjoy company this early in the morning. Okay, it was already eleven o 'clock, but still. With a sigh, he folded his arms on the table and laid down his head on top of it. From this angle, he could just see Kohaku walking around the large table with all kinds of bread, cake and other food on it.

Hopefully, his colleague would understand how much Lucille meant with 'not too much'. It practically meant that the singer didn't feel like eating anything more than a few crumbs of bread with something sweet on it, and a big cup of coffee. Caffeine would be the only thing able to wake him up today. He had just closed his eyes for a moment, when Kohaku came to the table, two plates and two cups in his hands. "Sit up."

Without any appetite at all, Lucille looked at what Kohaku had gotten for him. A rather large slice of chocolate cake. At least he had also brought him an even larger cup of coffee. Though the smell of that coffee was a bit… off. Almost suspicious, he looked at his colleague.

"They had milk and stuff to put in it, but I though you could use something stronger," Kohaku explained, sitting down opposite of him. "So I asked a waitress if they had any amaretto liqueur to put in it." He looked away almost embarrassed. "Because you liked that ice-cream last evening so much, and it was on that too, so I thought…"

"Thanks. That's really nice of you," Lucille interrupted him with a smile. A true one, this time.

"Whatever," Kohaku growled, trying to keep up his non-caring appearance. "But you gotta understand that this does mean you have to finish that piece of chocolate cake. I'm not gonna let you drink alcohol on an empty stomach."

"Aww, you're worried?" Lucille grinned.

"No, I just don't feel like spending that theatre workshop with you being drunk!"

Before Lucille could come up with a reply, one of the sailor girls stepped to the middle of the room. "Ladies and gentleman, could I have your attention please? As known, we'll be having a theatre workshop, performing 'Romeo and Juliet' this afternoon at 1 o 'clock. So lunch will be during that. I will now read the list of how the roles are divided!" A long list of names and roles followed. "And at last, the parts of Romeo and Juliet will be performed by…" Lucille seriously wanted to kill her when he heard her say his and Kohaku's names.

"No way," he heard Kohaku growl.

"On second thought, wouldn't it be better if we were both drunk," Lucille groaned. "Why us?"

"They just hate us." With a sigh, Kohaku started eating. "Well, nothing we can do about it, so let's just hope it won't be too horrible."

"But…" Lucille started, but didn't have the guts to ask what he wanted to ask. 'Romeo and Juliet' was a love story. Which probably meant they would have to do more than just holding hands. But if he asked how Kohaku felt about that, it might come out wrong. It wasn't like Lucille minded, but he didn't want to sound too eager either. Not that he was eager! Damn! Blushing, he looked down at his breakfast, hoping his hair would cover up his flushed face.

"Err, are you okay?" Kohaku asked puzzled.

"Yeah, I'm… fine," Lucille answered, a bit too fast. Quickly, he forced himself to smile relaxed.

"Sure," Kohaku reacted dryly. "I completely believe that."

Lucille didn't bother to respond, and just started eating without even looking at his colleague anymore. He had to admit, the chocolate cake did taste pretty good, even though he still didn't feel hungry. And the coffee with amaretto was great. Even though compared to Kohaku, he had barely eaten anything, he was still the last of the two of them to finish eating.

"So, we still have an hour left. Anything you want to do?" Kohaku asked.

"We still had something to discuss," Lucille reminded him. "About a certain box."

"Yeah. Better to discuss that in our room," Kohaku agreed. "Shall we go?"

Lucille nodded and stood up, suddenly feeling the stomachache coming back. Since he had been sleeping close to someone, the headache had lessened, and was now almost gone. The stomachache probably wouldn't go away until he got off this ship. Eating only seemed to make it worse. Well, at least he wasn't nauseous yet, so he really had no right to complain. Silently, he followed Kohaku out of the dining room. In the hallway, though, he had to stand still for a moment. "Damn…"

"What? Still seasick?" Kohaku asked, almost sounding worried.

"Sort of," Lucille replied softly. "Just wait a sec until my stomach settles down." Kohaku sighed annoyed, but did wait for him. A few moments later, Lucille started walking again. Was it just his imagination, or was the dark-haired man really walking slower than usual? To make it easier on him? He didn't dare to hope so, but he couldn't deny the fact that it did seem like it.

Back in their room, Lucille carefully sat down on the bed, while Kohaku just jumped onto the mattress. The whole bed creaked when he landed on his belly, giving Lucille goosebumps. "Be careful!"

"What? It's not like the ship's gonna sink because I jumped on a bed!" Kohaku snapped. "I'm not that fat, you know?"

"I didn't mean that," Lucille grumbled. "Never mind."

Kohaku pushed him against his shoulder, almost making Lucille fall of the bed. "Hey!" Lucille snapped, tuning around and throwing a pillow at Kohaku's head in one movement. The other man rolled over to his back, and dodged it without any trouble, and with a big grin on his face. Before Lucille even realized what was happening, he had the pillow thrown back in his own face. Growling, he jumped at Kohaku, with the full intention of strangling him, but his colleague had seen that coming and quickly grabbed his wrists.

"Let me go!" Lucille yelled, barely able to stop a grin when Kohaku instead of letting him go, took both wrists in one hand, and used the other to tickle the frail singer. "S-stop!" Lucille begged, almost chocking in laughter. "What the Hell are you doing?"

Finally, Kohaku let go of him. "Just trying to cheer you up. It worse enough being here with you, if you're all grumpy it's only worse."

"That's… so unlike you." He smiled faintly. "It did work, though. But next time, just tell a joke. That less painful for my stomach."

"If you're gonna throw up, don't aim for me," Kohaku growled.

"Don't worry, I don't feel sick. Yet."

"Hey, but seriously. What are we going to do about that metal box? We have to get something to open it with, but they'll notice if we take something like a knife from the dining room. I don't know if you noticed it too, but once you pay attention to it, you'll see they're all watching. Those sailor creeps."

He actually hadn't paid enough attention to notice, but he nodded in agreement anyway. "Which means that, whatever we'll do, we'll have to be practically invisible."

"Yup. Which brings us back to the point of what exactly we're gonna do. That ballroom dance is in four days already."

"So," Lucille sighed, closing his eyes for just a moment. "We'll have to focus on getting something to open that box with first. That's our only lead at the moment."

"Guess so." Kohaku suddenly rolled back over to his stomach and pulled Lucille's hair. "Don't dare to fall asleep now, or I'll cut your hair of."

Lucille smirked. "Be prepared for a slow and painful death if you do."

"Like you could do me any harm," Kohaku chuckled.

"Wanna bet?" Lucille mumbled, with a quiet glance at his colleague. "You know I've killed before."

"You don't know how many I have killed," Kohaku replied, with a somewhat devilish grin.

Lucille smiled dryly. "Yeah, nice and normal conversation this is."

"What, you mean we're strange?" Kohaku said, just as dryly. "Where did you get that idea?"

"Tch," Lucille smiled, closing his eyes again. "I won't sleep, but can you please let me rest for about ten minutes?"

"Geez, I was just trying be nice to you!" Kohaku growled.

"I didn't mean it like that," Lucille sighed. "I mean, can you stay like this for a while? Makes it easier to rest when I feel someone is closes. Even by daylight, we're still in enemy's territory."

"Alright already," Kohaku mumbled. "I won't move."

With a faint smile, Lucille relaxed. "Thanks."

* * *

**Okay, as far as the storyline is concerned, this chapter didn't have any point. But it was fun to write the LuciKoha moments, so I hope it was also fun to read :) There'll be more "action" in the next chapter.**

**I'll update in a few days^^**


	10. Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

Staring at the inner side of his eyelids proved to be quite boring after a while, so Lucille decided to roll over on his back to stare at the wooden ceiling. Still boring, and he didn't want to fall asleep. He'd certainly feel worse if Kohaku would have to wake him, and he'd have to go to that stupid theatre workshop instantly, without getting the chance to really wake up. So he turned his head a little to the left, facing Kohaku, who was still sitting on the bed.

His stomach and head were starting to hurt again, after suddenly moving. Geez, hopefully it wasn't really some kind of flu or virus. But then again, even being seasick didn't make him feel like this. Maybe it was just the stress from being scared all the time. Now, during day, it wasn't nearly as bad as at night, when he felt much more alone. But still he felt a certain uneasiness the entire time. By no means he was weak, but still he was feeling the effect of that continuous stress. With a sight, he laid his right arm over his forehead, feeling his cold skin helping a bit against the headache. Considering the sort of pain he had in his stomach, he didn't thought it would be a good idea to lay his other arm over that. Pressure would probably only make it hurt more.

"You all right?" Kohaku suddenly asked, sounding almost nice.

"Yeah," Lucille replied, with a faint smile. "Just not feeling so great."

"You know, I was kidding about cutting your hair, if you'd fall asleep."

With a soft chuckle, Lucille looked at him. "I wasn't, about killing you if you'd dare to do that."

"I'm serious, idiot. You look like crap, and if I have to act all lovey-dovey with you for that theatre thing, you'd better look a bit more… normal."

"Normal?" Lucille asked amused.

"You know, annoying and like an idiot," Kohaku answered with a grin.

"Geez, thanks for the compliment," the singer said sarcastically, punching Kohaku at his arm. Immediately, his colleague punched back and hit Lucille's stomach. "Ouch…" Breathing a bit too quickly, Lucille rolled over on his left side, clutching his stomach. That was now throbbing painfully. "Don't… aim there," he mumbled, trying to block out the sudden nausea.

"Sorry!" Kohaku apologized, carefully leaning over him. "Do you need an aspirin?"

"Y-yes." It would make him a bit drowsy, which was a bad thing while being on this ship, but if they'd have to do a lot of physical acting, he didn't want to end up like he had on the sports-day, yesterday.

"I'll get one, and some water." Before standing up, Kohaku laid his hand on Lucille's forehead for a moment. "You still have a bit of a fever."

Lucille sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "Great."

"Here you go." Kohaku gave him a glass of water and an aspirin. "Let's hope it'll work."

"It will. I almost never take any medication, so my body responds to it just fine." Slowly, the slim singer sat up and took over the glass and tablet. Trying not to taste it, he swallowed it and drank the water quickly. "Yuk. Tastes like chalk. Extremely bitter chalk."

"Moron." Kohaku looked at him closely. "Now, are you sure you won't faint like yesterday? You scared the crap out of me."

A bit shocked, Lucille looked back at him. "I did? You were really scared?" He just couldn't fully believe it. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, you idiot!" Kohaku growled, seemingly a bit shy. "I… almost thought you wouldn't wake up. I've never seen you really ill before, so…" He sighed. "Well, I probably would have distanced myself from you, if Eles and Gwin would have been here. Especially Eles, she would have taken care of you eagerly."

"Sorry," Lucille mumbled, not fully understanding what his colleague was trying to say, but assuming he meant that he didn't like to take care of him.

"For what?" Kohaku asked afoul.

"That you have to take care of me," Lucille mumbled, nervously tossing and turning the empty glass he still had in his hands.

"I didn't mean it like that, moron!" Kohaku snapped. "But do you think I would have volunteered to be close with you if there was someone else around who wanted to? Geez, you wouldn't even have taken me seriously, so I'd only look like an idiot for offering!"

For a moment, Lucille just thought about that. "So… You were scared that I'd make a fool out of you?"

"Yeah," Kohaku admitted. "You always have this way of thinking that people can't care about you! Or that you don't want them to. But you look so damn lonely sometimes."

For some reason, Lucille felt like crying. 'Yeah,' he thought. 'Truth hurts.' "Well, you know what tends to happen to people who I become friends with," he replied out loud.

"I can defend myself, so any other lame excuses?"

"I… I just…" Suddenly, he realized something about what Kohaku was aiming for. "You want to be more than just colleagues?" 'Don't yell at me,' he begged in silence. 'Please, I don't know if I could take that after saying what I just did.'

"So what if I do? We've been traveling as a group for years, so don't you think it would be weird if we really wouldn't give a damn about each other?"

"It… would," Lucille mumbled, feeling that he was breathing a bit too quickly again. This time not from physical pain.

"Then why do you just accept it to be lonely?"

"Because all of them died!" Lucille snapped. "Shut up, please! I don't want to talk about it anymore. Not how I'm feeling right now. So please…" His breathing quickened a bit more. "Please. I'll… I'll talk to you about some things, if you really want me to allow you closer. But not right now."

"So I'm good enough to hold you at night when you're scared, but there's no need for actually trusting me?" Kohaku glared at him, obviously hurt.

"Like I said. If you want me to, I'll try to tell you about some things, but not now, and I really can't promise I can tell." Dizzy and feeling like crap in every way imaginable, he started trembling. "But only if you're really willing to take the risk, so it won't be my fault again if…"

"I am willing, I already said that!" Kohaku suddenly laid an arm around his slender shoulders to support him. "Geez, no need to get all stressed about it. It's not like my past is that nice and pretty, you know. I mean, I don't know what happened to you before you opposed the queen, but…"

"I don't want to think about it. Just let me be." With a soft sigh, he leaned against Kohaku's chest, needing to feel the warmth of someone else against him. "Just for a little while…" His voice trailed off.

A little awkwardly, Kohaku embraced him. "Sure, whatever. Moron." Lucille smiled softly and finally relaxed.

Feeling strangely happy, but concerned at the same time, Kohaku looked at Lucille's beautiful, frail form. The singer's pale face was calm now, but he still trembled a bit. A sudden feeling of fright took over Kohaku. What if Lucille wouldn't be able to bear the pain of remembering? It was a good thing that Lucille trusted him enough to promise to tell him about his full past, but wouldn't the pain break him to pieces inside? No matter how curious Kohaku was, it wasn't worth to make Lucille hurt for so badly. The singer never had seemed weak, but how he had been the past few days, and especially just now, made it clear how devastating the trauma must be. But what could be worse than what he already knew about his colleague? The man had killed a whole orchestra to not be killed himself, as a punishment for trying to defeat the queen.

Lucille sighed, and stirred a bit in Kohaku's arms. His eyes were closed now, and he looked as if he was half asleep. "Oi, stay awake! We have to go to that workshop in ten minutes."

"Hmm… I know." With a shaky sigh, Lucille reopened his eyes. "The aspirins are making me feel a little sleepy."

"But are they working?"

"Yeah. My headache is almost gone."

"And how about your stomach?" Kohaku asked, a bit worried by the way Lucille still looked slightly in pain.

"It has lessened a bit, but for some reason, the aspirins just can't defeat it," Lucille replied with a faint smirk. "But I'll be fine."

To a stranger he did look almost like he was all right. But after traveling with this guy for years, Kohaku knew better. "If you're starting to feel worse, say so."

"I will," Lucille promised with a fake smile, obviously lying. "And…" He swallowed with some effort. "Next evening, after dinner, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about my past. But you should know, if you ever use it against me, even as a joke, I'll be dead."

Kohaku realized it with some shock. Normally, one would say; 'if you do this and that, _you'll _be dead'. Lucille had said _I'll_ be dead. "In case you haven't noticed it yet, I'm not a monster. I can actually see how hard it is for you to even think about. Just don't let it distract you too much from our assignment. If we don't stop those creeps in time, we'll both end up dead."

Lucille looked him in the eyes, still slumped against him. Then, a really small, nearly invisible smile appeared on his face. A true one, and full of trust. "Thank you."

About ten minutes later, they silently walked towards the dining room, where they had to meet for the workshop. Most of the other couples were already there, waiting in line for their costumes. Lucille groaned softly. "Not a dress again."

Kohaku grinned, and pushed him forward. "No choice, babe."

Lucille's glare at him was almost scary, but among so many people, they couldn't exactly start a fight with each other. Would look a tad suspicious. Still, Lucille managed to growl something at him without being noticed. "One day, I'll drag you into a dress!"

"Try and die," Kohaku hissed back.

Lucille just chuckled, but then leaned against him with a pale face when the ship suddenly moved. "Ouch… Must be storming outside," he groaned.

"Try to ignore it, maybe you won't get nauseous then," Kohaku tried to help.

"I already am nauseous." The singer sighed deeply. "Never mind, where almost at the end of line. I hope we won't have to change clothes in public."

"In public?"

"I mean women and man separated in big rooms. I think they would notice something," Lucille replied dryly.

"Crap," Kohaku hadn't yet thought about that. The blonde was right, no way they'd wouldn't see he was a man, if he were in his underwear. Hopefully they would be allowed to redress in their room.

Luckily, they were, so some minutes later they were on their way to where a sailor girl had told them the theatre room was. Immediately, they were assignment to smaller groups of about ten people. Each group had a woman from around thirty as instructor. Disturbingly, they were all dressed in the same sailor outfit as the younger girls.

"Look at the bright side, at least you look weird in a good way," Kohaku hissed to Lucille, who was wearing a bright blue ballroom dress. It actually complemented his eyes very well, as did it to his slim figure and long legs. Still, Lucille gave him a somewhat flushed glare at his words, and Kohaku couldn't help but to chuckle. Honestly, he was glad he only had to wear a slightly over-the-top suit, in a dark shade of blue.

"All right, here are your scripts!" The instructor gave them all some stencils. "Go practice in groups of two, I'll walk around and tell you how to improve. In half an hour, we'll all go the main room and have a repetition of the full play, so try to know your scenes by then!" Well that was another way to earn money from teaching, Kohaku thought.

"Okay, let's do this," Lucille sighed.

Kohaku just growled, but tried to memorize the scenes they practiced, even though that were quite a lot. Until suddenly, Lucille's face turned a bit red. "Eh… It says here… that we have to kiss," he stuttered.

"What…" No way. But a couple of newlyweds wouldn't refuse to kiss, probably. "No choice, I guess," he growled.

"Well, let's save the physical stuff for real practice."

Lucille swallowed audibly. "O-Okay."

While learning their lines, Kohaku noticed how fluently Lucille acted. Like he was a real actor. Personally, he felt a bit awkward saying all those things Romeo sais to Juliet. After half an hour, they finally went to the main hall. The first few scenes were easy enough, though the woman acting as Juliet's mother almost got scared of the stage when she had to do an argue-scene with Lucille. Then, the first kissing scene.

Lucille´s face seemed a bit too pale, when they stood before each other. Trying not to act suspiciously nervous himself, Kohaku said his lines, stumbling a few times. Then, they both seemed to freeze. "You're supposed to kiss now," a instructor 'helped' them. Geez, they really didn't have a choice?

Kohaku took a deep breath and carefully laid an arm around Lucille's thin waist, pulling him closer. Lucille didn't try to step back, he just silently leaned into Kohaku, staring at him with those big, shining eyes. "Just don't throw up right now," Kohaku whispered, before pushing his lips gently against Lucille's. They were so soft. And the singer kept staring at him, not stirring at all. Tenderly, Kohaku stroked Lucille's hair, and the singer's eyes slid shut as he finally returned the kiss. Time seemed to have stopped, but as Kohaku closed his eyes too, he could sense every sound and movement from the blonde.

Suddenly, he felt more than heard the singer moan breathlessly. Carefully, he withdrew, allowing Lucille to lean his head against him. The blonde's cheeks were bright red, and his eyes remained closed for a short moment, before he finally looked back at him. Whatever that emotion in his eyes was, it certainly wasn't revulsion. But he could feel him trembling, and knew he had to get him away from people's attention quickly. "Come on," he said softly.

Together, they walked off the small stage, while the next couple climbed on it to do their scene. The rest of them sat on pillows on the floor, and Kohaku carefully sat Lucille down on one of them, before sitting down next to him. "Are you okay?" He noticed how quick Lucille's breathing went. "L… Lucy?"

"Koha…ku," Lucille mumbled, giving him a short, flushed glance. "Little less passionate, next time. Geez, I almost believed you meant it."

But… he had meant it. In some strange way, he had been happy kissing Lucille. Well, this wasn't the right place, nor the right time to tell him that. Either Lucille would freak out, or he'd get a breakdown. "Did you want me to mean it?" he couldn't help but to ask. Lucille just shot him a weak glare, which somehow hurt a bit. The rest of the day, they both went on automatic pilot, though Kohaku wondered briefly if this would chance Lucille's plan to tell him about his past. Hopefully not. Besides the curiousness, Kohaku really wanted to know why Lucille had become like this. Maybe he could help him, some way. Geez, it was so not like him to think like that.

* * *

**Phew… finally they have kissed =3 It was kinda hard to write it, since I had the feeling it should be a good scene to make up for how long they have waited to do it. So I hope it turned out fun to read :) **

**I'll update in a few days^^**


	11. Chapter 11

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

At dinner, Lucille barely ate. Kohaku ate enough for two, though, happy as he was that they were serving meatballs and potatoes this time, instead of those shrimps. When they had finished their desert, strawberry ice cream, Lucille spoke to him for the first time since the workshop. "Shall we go back to our room? I think I'll take another aspirin, my head is starting to hurt again." Meaning his stomachache hadn't eased at all. Kohaku decided it was better not to ask about that right now, considering what he really wanted to know.

Luckily, Lucille answered that question to. "And then… I have something to tell you, if you still want to know."

"I do. Let's go," Kohaku said, a little too quickly. Almost gallantly, he helped Lucille to stand up. The singer seemed a bit wobbly on his feet, but regained composure quick. Together, they walked out of the dining hall.

Back in their room, Lucille first took an aspirin and a bottle of water, while Kohaku sat down on the bed, sitting on his pillow and his back leaning against the wall. Quietly, Lucille sat down next to him. An awkward silence followed, in which they both refused to look at each other. Finally, Lucille was the one to speak up. "So, what exactly is it that you want to know? Whatever it is, I won't get angry or anything."

"Well…" Kohaku thought about it for a moment, but just decided that being diplomatic wasn't his thing. "How did you get this way?" he asked bluntly. "So untruthful about yourself. And so…" He wanted to say it, but didn't want to push the limits. If he wanted Lucille to talk, it wouldn't be such a good idea to offend him.

But Lucille already guessed it. "So… psychologically wrecked?" he said with a bitter smile.

"I was gonna say 'traumatized'," Kohaku grumbled.

"Same thing." With a deep sigh, Lucille leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the spot where the wall met the ceiling at the other end of the room. "Where should I start?"

"What's the earliest memory from your childhood?"

"It wasn't by far all traumatizing," Lucille replied, a bit offended at last.

"I know. But I don't just want to know all your sad stories, I want to know you."

"Then I want to know you."

"Mother was a prostitute but taught me how to play the violin, never known father died in prison, killed some people for money, got some bad girlfriends, and then I met the worst person on planet Earth. That last person would be you."

"And the scar?" Lucille asked.

"Got that from my first meeting with a guignol, but she didn't infect me. Just made me feel their presence."

"Well… that was… quick," Lucille chuckled. "My story is a tad longer, if you don't mind."

"Just tell me," Kohaku said. "But… don't force yourself too much, okay?"

Those words earned him a short, but thankful glance from Lucille. "All right." His gaze went back to the upper part of the wall. "Well… first things I remember… that should be playing games with my sister Cordie. Singing for her and stuff. And my cousin Morion always joined us too. He wasn't as good at singing as I, but he was pretty good still. Our parents most of the time called us back pretty quickly, whenever we were out playing. Though we were both spoiled, they… didn't like Cordie that much, because she couldn't sing, and she wasn't beautiful. She always acted like she was fine with it, because I love her. But… I could see that in reality, it was hurting her, and she was jealous at me. And I felt so guilty about it." His voice trailed off, lost in memories for a moment.

"But… they did take you on vacation to a ship, right?" Kohaku asked.

"They did, once," Lucille replied. "Like I told earlier, I felt like crap. I don't even know why they took us on a trip, but it probably were political reasons. Well, I'll never know. Anyway, we had the entire ship for ourselves, about the size of this one. I even got lost one day, and some sailors had to spend the whole day searching for me." A somewhat pained look came over his face. "I somehow got myself trapped in a storage room, and it was so dark. I was completely panicked by the time they got me out, and I kept crying for my parents."

"And… what did they say?" Kohaku asked, when Lucille didn't talk further.

"They didn't say a thing. They were too busy, and I got locked up in my room. Lucky for me, Cordie managed to sneak in and comfort me a bit." He drew a shaky sigh. "While I was trapped in that storage chamber… I was convinced that the ship would sink, and no one would know where I was. No one would save me, and I'd die all alone in the darkness, surrounded by miles and miles of water." Okay, that explained Lucille's fear of ships. Still, that didn't make someone as weird as Lucille.

"And the sunset?"

Lucille seemed surprised for a moment. "Oh, right. I already told you that. Well, that was the next night. Besides seasick, now I was also scared. So Cordie got the idea of going to the front deck of the ship." His gaze turned somewhat dreamy. "It was beautiful. Such a moment in which you feel like magic exists." He smiled softly. "And that's all I remember about that ship. Anything else?"

"Well… I don't know. Just random things you remember."

"I can't tell you all small things about my childhood in one night. Just ask, and when it's eleven o 'clock I'm going to sleep." It was nine o 'clock now, so that gave Kohaku enough time left.

"Swimming," he said shortly.

"Eh… I told you already that I wasn't allowed to do that because it could affect my hearing, and therefore my singing. Cordie and Morion were allowed to, though. So one summer, when I was about eight years old, I finally got tired of watching them swim in the small lake we had on our property. Those two had been teasing me, and it was really hot… either way, I jumped in without thinking and at first we could still stand. Then we started splashing water at each other. Somehow, we ended up chasing each other around, towards the deep part of the lake. It got deeper quite abruptly, like one moment, it was about three feet deep, but then it just went to at least seventeen feet in a matter of inches. They went on chasing and splashing while swimming, not noticing that I already had ended up underwater."

"Yeah, you sink like a rock," Kohaku agreed thoughtlessly.

"Thanks for the compliment," Lucille replied dryly. "Anyway, I tried to get above the water, but I had no idea how to, so I panicked. And I forgot not to breathe, so altogether, I passed out in probably less than a minute. Cook, the butler who was responsible for me and Cordie, had come to take us back inside. And found Cordie and Morion all panicked and looking for me. Luckily, he instantly realized what must have happened, so he jumped in and somehow managed to find me underwater and get me back to land." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I already had stopped breathing, but he knew how to perform CPR, so I survived. He carried me back to the castle, and I kept half unconsciously crying for my mother. He didn't want to, probably because he knew what would happen, but in the end he gave in. I just wanted my mum to hold me and tell me that everything was fine. Instead, she and my father yelled at me for what felt like hours. Then they blamed Cordie and had her whipped as a punishment. No matter how hurt she was, she still stayed at my bedside all day, while I cried. I even asked her to leave, because I didn't want her to see my tears, but she wouldn't go." He fell silent again.

"At least there was someone there for you," Kohaku tried to look at the bright side.

Lucille didn't reply, he just closed his eyes again. "So… almost ten o 'clock. If you want to ask what you really want to know, do it quick."

"All right. Why…" How could he say this clearly? "Why did all go wrong? The reason why you left, and she had to become queen. Why always look like you hate yourself."

The singer's face paled a bit, and his eyes remained shut. "One day we were singing and playing in some weird park, close by. We had no idea what it was, but we called it our secret garden. That day, we found a strange doll, and we wrapped a cloth around it and Cordie and I took it with us when Cook came to take us back. We had no idea it was a graveyard for the cursed dolls." He started trembling a bit. "From that point, all went wrong. The doll started contaminating people. Lots of people died, and finally also our parents." A deep shiver went through him at the memory, and Kohaku carefully took his hand. It seemed to help a bit, and the shivers lessened.

"Calm down a bit, okay? Just tell it slowly and try not to see the images."

Lucille nodded faintly, and went on with his story. "I was selected become the new queen, because of my voice and the way I look, but I didn't want that. I couldn't lead the people I had damned by bringing that cursed doll. So I left, to practice singing. That's how I learned to kill with my voice. When I came back, and became head of the orchestra, Cordie had already became queen Gemsilica. And hated me for leaving her and making her become the heartless, cruel woman she always had feared to become if she was to be the queen." He shivered again. "And then… I tried to overthrow her reign, k-kill her, but when I realized I couldn't do that…" His breathing hitched. "I begged her to let me live, and to prove my loyalty… I gathered every single member of the orchestra… And killed them."

Not knowing what to say, though he had heard parts of this story beforehand, Kohaku pulled him in a loose embrace. He felt Lucille stiffen for a moment, and then tried to get out of his arms. "Lucille…"

"Don't! Can't you see? This is why I can't have you, or anyone, loving me! They all die, because of the sin I committed!"

"You did want me to hold you the past nights!" Kohaku growled. "I don't get killed so easily!"

Lucille looked at him, not sure what exactly he was feeling. He wanted to get away from Kohaku as fast as he could, both to protect Kohaku's life, and also to protect his own feelings. But at the same time, he wanted to lay in his colleagues arms so badly. But was it worth the risk? Would he be able to bear it if he'd lost a loved one again? But… "I won't let you die," he whispered, pushing his frail body against Kohaku's. "No matter what, I won't allow anyone to ruin it this time!"

For a moment, Kohaku just held him. "Well…" he said eventually. "We should also talk about our assignment."

Lucille almost glared at him. "How can you think of work right now?"

"Well, I now consider you a friend. But if we get killed next Sunday at the ballroom dance, that'll be one short friendship."

Lucille felt his heart ache at the word 'friend'. All people who had called him that before, regretted it in the end. Still, he realized Kohaku was right, both about their new friendship, and their job. "But…"

"I managed to steal a small dagger from the theatre workshop," Kohaku grinned, pulling it out of his pocket. "Too bad I couldn't sneak in more than some guns, but if they have weapons lying around here… That's too easy."

"Not even in your clothes?" Lucille asked.

"What is in my clothes?"

"Knifes?"

"There was too much of a risk they'd notice. Besides, a gun is reasonable these days, but it'd be kinda hard to explain twenty knifes and daggers inside my clothes, right?"

"Good point," Lucille agreed. "So… tonight?"

Kohaku watched him from head to toe. "I don't think I'd want you as a fighting partner tonight. Well, only if I would want to get captured."

"Thanks," Lucille replied dryly, but saw the hint of worry in Kohaku's eyes. "Okay, you're right. I'm exhausted. But tomorrow, there's only that origami-thing, and I assume you don't want another emotional conversation tomorrow evening?"

"Not necessarily," Kohaku replied. "So we'll sneak into that room again tomorrow night?"

"Okay." Lucille sighed deeply, trying to understand his own feelings. "Kohaku… just one thing…"

"Let's go to bed first. In case you haven't noticed, it's late."

Sometime later, when they were lying next to each other in the darkness of their room, Lucille holding on to Kohaku's hand tightly, Lucille gathered the courage to ask what he wanted to know. "When… when you kissed me… Did you hate it?" He wondered briefly how he was supposed to react if Kohaku said he did.

"Hate… no. It was a bit awkward, but I'd do it again if I'd have to. Did you hate it?" Kohaku sounded a little insecure.

"No." He hadn't hated it at all. Despite his flirting with suspects who thought he was a woman, he had never truly kissed anyone before. Well, if a forced kiss even counted. For him, it did. And it had felt breathtaking, scary, uncontrolled and… beautiful. Almost the feeling he had gotten while looking at that one sunset, so many years ago. But there was no way that Kohaku had felt the same, so he'd only make a fool of himself by saying that.

With another sight, he closed his eyes, suddenly too exhausted to even keep his eyes open. Faintly, he realized Kohaku said his name and asking something. "Hm?"

"I said; then why did you look at me that shocked?"

"Just…" He yawned, already half asleep. "Sunset." He heard Kohaku's confused 'what?', and chuckled softly. Before Kohaku could demand further explanation, the singer had already drifted off to sleep.

With a sigh, Kohaku wondered about what to do now. Lucille was, obviously, asleep, but he had to get him undressed and underneath the bed sheets. Waking him didn't seem like a good idea, though. "I am not going to undress you," he growled, deciding to just do what seemed easiest. He turned off the lights, before carefully pulling Lucille into a loose embrace, to keep them both warm. At this, the singer didn't show any signs of waking up. He just kept breathing steadily and stirred a bit, until he laid comfortable in Kohaku's arms. Then he sighed softly and went limp again.

With an annoyed groan, Kohaku closed his eyes and tried to sleep. That took some time, with this idiot laying in his arms like this, making him feel like he was holding onto some newborn kitten. For some reason, he was almost scared that he would fall from his sitting position, and by accident land on the frail blonde. Well, that could also have something to do with knowing what that moron would probably say if he'd found Kohaku laying on top of him.

In the midst of the night, something stirring against him woke him up. For a moment, he didn't remember, then all came back. Right, that idiot was sleeping in his arms. Comfortably, unlike Kohaku, who was starting to get a sore neck and back, by sleeping in a sitting position. "Hngg…" Lucille moaned, kicking weakly with his legs.

"Hey, lay still!" Carefully, Kohaku caressed the singer's silky hair. "Geez, I'm trying to sleep here!"

Lucille sighed deeply and relaxed a bit. "Mmh… Ko…ha…ku…" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'm right here. So now get quiet, so I can get back to sleep, understand?" Lucille did seem to, but it took some time for Kohaku to drift off again. Mainly because of the fact that Lucille had said his name in his sleep. What the Hell had the blonde been dreaming about? And did he really want to know? Considering that it had seemed to be a nightmare, maybe not.

Waking up was never Lucille's favorite part of the day, but this morning could have been worse. Though half of his body was uncomfortably cold, the other half was nicely warm. Meaning he was laying down on some kind of heat source. A really soft and faintly moving heat source. A bit drowsy, he opened his eyes and looked at what he was lying on. Ah, that explained a lot. Kohaku was sitting slumped against the wall, with him on his lap and in his arms. And Lucille's head leaned against Kohaku's stomach, so he could feel him breathing. It felt sort of safe.

With a long yawn, he rolled onto his back, staring at the window. Still a bit dark, so it was too early to get up already. Good. That gave him some time to adjust himself to their change in relationship. Would Kohaku act different now that Lucille had honestly talked to him, showing that he trusted him? Or would the dark-haired man just pretend that it hadn't happened? Please, no. Suddenly feeling cold all over, Lucille rolled back onto his side and curled up, getting a bit nauseous.

What if Kohaku would act like nothing had happened, and be mean to him as usual? Not that Lucille wanted him to get too nice, that would be a little scary, but now he finally had opened up to the man, getting hurt would… well, hurt even more. How could he have been so stupid to take such a risk?

Lucille didn't realize he was whimpering softly, until Kohaku woke up because of it. "What's your problem?" he growled.

"N-nothing," Lucille whispered. "I just…" He drew a shaky sigh. "It's nothing, really."

"Sure?" Kohaku asked sleepily.

"Yeah," Lucille replied with a forced smile.

"Hm." Kohaku closed his eyes. "You know… If you're not all right, you have to tell. 'Cause we're friends now."

* * *

**This chapter was a bit soft. Might do more action into the next.**

**Will update in a few days^^**


	12. Chapter 12

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

This time when he woke, he didn't panic of the thought that Kohaku now truly knew him. What he did nearly panic of, was the time. "We're late!" Rough, he shook Kohaku's shoulder, getting an annoyed groan out of him. "Wake up already!"

"What?" Kohaku growled, opening his eyes. He immediately saw the cock. "Damn it! Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"I just woke up a minute ago!" Lucille defended himself. "Anyway, we still have one hour to get some breakfast." Not that he was hungry, the headache still prominently present in his head, and the stomachache also not gone yet, but he knew Kohaku was.

"You're hungry?" Kohaku asked, unexpectedly interested.

"Not really. Not until we get out of this boat," Lucille replied honestly, and thought for a second. "It does seem a bit lessened, though."

"Stress, maybe?" Kohaku suggested. "You've finally opened up, so that's gotta be at least a bit of a relieve."

"Maybe," Lucille agreed. "Doesn't makes me less scared of being on a boat, though." Slowly, he stood up and realized he still had his clothes on. Well, that saves time. Those few wrinkles in it didn't really bother him. Kohaku seemed to think the same way about that, not bothering to redress either.

At breakfast, Lucille barely ate anything, while Kohaku ate so much people were actually looking at him a bit weird. "Oi, you gotta eat some more," the dark haired man growled. "You're skinny enough as it is!"

"Not hungry," Lucille replied short, poking in a croissant.

"Not my problem. You're eating at least that whole croissant, or I'll personally shove it down your throat."

Lucille shot him a faint glare. "Maybe I like it better when you don't care about me."

"Well, I do. Learn to live with it and eat that damned thing!"

With a quiet sigh, Lucille started to eat, but there still seemed to be some tough weather outside, making the ship's movements just palpable. His stomach decided to turn upside down suddenly, and he shot another glare at Kohaku. "If I'm gonna throw up, I'll aim for you!"

"Shut up!" Kohaku growled, looking around. "People are looking. Eat!"

Lucille just sighed and took another bite. His stomach didn't agree with that, making him so nauseous he almost threw up. "I can't," he groaned, clutching his stomach. "Damn…"

"You have to."

Lucille tried. He really did. Not only for Kohaku, but also because he knew he was going to need all strength he had later on. And he managed to even keep it in. Question was, for how long would he be able to keep it in? If only that freaking storm would stop, then his seasickness would get a lot less bad. Well, considering his luck, that probably wasn't going to happen anytime soon. With a soft groan, he laid his head on the table and closed his eyes, not caring that everyone could see him.

"Oi!" Lucille stiffened a bit at Kohaku's voice, thinking that his friend would probably snap at him to sit normal. To his surprise, he suddenly felt a hand softly rubbing his back. "You okay?"

With a deep sigh, the blonde opened his eyes and saw Kohaku hanging over the table to touch him. "Hm. Feel sick," he groaned. "But I'll be fine in a minute." Hopefully.

"Just try to give your body the time to digest what you just ate," Kohaku said, sounding almost friendly.

Lucille smiled faintly and sighed again. "I'm trying to."

"Well, breakfast time is over, and it'll be an hour until that origami-thing. So let's go back to our room for a while." Without bothering to wait for any response, Kohaku stood up and also pulled Lucille to his feet. The slim singer felt his nausea grow worse, but ignored it, walking after Kohaku quickly. In the hallway, he had to grab his friend's arm to keep standing.

Still a bit scared that Kohaku would snap at him or pull away his arm, Lucille moved towards the wall to get something else to lean on. Kohaku seemed to willingly stay walking in the middle of the hallway, though, and didn't even respond at Lucille's hands grabbing the sleeve of his jacket. So, that meant he didn't mind? Or was he just trying to keep undercover? The fact that he still didn't trust the man fully, the fact that he just couldn't believe deep in his heart that anyone would really care about him in an almost motherly way, made Lucille's throat tighten a bit. Damn, why couldn't he just confide in people a bit more, even be a little more naïve? Why did he have to be so freaking scared all the time to get hurt?

Simple. It had already happened to him too many times, and he knew that was the answer.

Suddenly, Kohaku looked at him inquisitively. "Gone worse?"

"Eh?" Lucille, just having snapped out of his thoughts, looked at him afoul.

"The nausea," he growled.

"Ah. No, that's about the same." The singer didn't bother to tell his friend what the reason of his silence had been. Maybe, some day, he'd come to fully trust Kohaku. But not yet.

In their room, Lucille just sat down on the bed for a while, until his stomach had finally settled down. To his surprise, Kohaku had sat down next to him immediately, constantly keeping an eye on him. Did he really look that sick? Lucille briefly wondered if that was the case, but Kohaku finally spoke up again.

"So, we'll go get that crack mark tonight?"

"If we can get into that room again unnoticed," Lucille nodded. "And this time, no one can even see us out of our room. As soon as they find out that guignol piece is missing, they'll start searching."

"Which means well have to hide it and pretend to be asleep as soon as we get back to this room."

"But where will we hide it? That sailor girl had searched through our baggage before, they won't have any problems with doing it again. And I'm not going to keep that thing in my clothes." Though it was a piece of a cursed doll now, it had been part of a human once. And Lucille felt he already had gotten his fair share of getting in touch with corpses.

"Then where?" Kohaku growled. "Underneath the bed would be kinda predictable."

Lucille though for a while, looking around the room. No hiding spots at all. Unless… "Do you have a rope?"

To Kohaku, that question had come completely out of the blue, obviously. "What? Well, probably somewhere in my suitcase. But why?"

"We might be able to…" Lucille got up while talking, looking for a large handkerchief in his suitcase. "With that rope… We can make a net, and hang it outside the window. We just have to make sure it won't fall down into the ocean."

"Good thinking." Kohaku got up to, and started searching through his own suitcase. "Got it." He handed Lucille the rope.

"Thanks." Quickly, Lucille made a net with the rope and handkerchief. "Done."

"Okay. Now let's go for the workshop, or we'll be late."

Which would be bad, only because that would drag the attention to them. Lucille knew for sure that Kohaku would never honestly look forward to folding paper for hours. Not that he personally did like it, but at least he could just sit still and be relatively left alone.

That proved to be impossible, when people started to complain about the silence during this workshop. All they had gotten, were a lot of papers, and one origami book per couple. And Kohaku found it necessary to comment that Lucille could sing well. "Please?" a women sitting next to them asked. "It's so quiet here, that's no fun."

"The why don't you sing?" Lucille asked, almost sounding unfriendly.

The woman chuckled. "Because then everyone would run off as fast as they could, just not to have to listen to me."

"Come on, why won't you sing," another woman asked. Even some men looked at Lucille expectantly.

"But…" Lucille muttered, shooting a begging gaze at Kohaku. His so-called 'friend' just grinned. Geez, he really didn't feel like singing. Actually, he just wanted to crawl away in some corner and sleep for a while, feeling the effect of barely having slept last night. If he'd sing now, he didn't know if he'd be able to control the intensity of his voice, so it wouldn't hurt anyone. But Kohaku wouldn't really make him do this, right? Tiredly, he looked at Kohaku again. "But… I'm a bit seasick, so…"

"That'll be over as soon as you don't think about it anymore," some man said.

Lucille just sighed shakily, feeling the eyes of half of the ship's passengers on him. "I don't…"

"Come on, don't be such a fun-killer," Kohaku grinned. "You can just stay sitting here, right?"

A bit hurt at what felt to Lucille as betrayal, he glared at Kohaku. But now the other passengers really wouldn't stop nagging, and it was bringing back his headache. "Alright already! What do you want me to sing?"

"Something happy," they all agreed on.

With a short sigh, Lucille looked at the half folded paper crane he had been working at. Quietly, he started to sings, and heard people gasp in amazement. Of course, it felt good that people liked his singing, but he really hoped this workshop would end soon. At least people started to get back to their paper folding, instead of staring at him. Oh, he'd get Kohaku for this.

Feeling his headache turning worse, he lowered his volume. "Audible, please," Kohaku remarked.

Breathing irregular, even more due to the singing, Lucille tuned up his volume again. Nice friend that was. Couldn't Kohaku see that he felt increasingly sick? Geez, did he enjoy seeing him like this or something? When the song finally ended, he didn't start a new one. Instead, he just tried to get his breathing back to normal again, without throwing up.

"Aww, come on," someone nagged. "Sing another song?"

"Yeah, you're really good," someone else commented.

"Sorry, but I don't…"

"But then we'll all be bored," Kohaku chuckled.

That did it. 'We'? So now Kohaku was on everybody else's side, and Lucille stood alone? "I don't want to," he mumbled, a faint tint of hurt in his voice. In his mind, he was practically begging Kohaku to notice how bad he felt. Useless hope.

"Don´t be egoistic," Kohaku said with a smirk.

Shivering slightly, Lucille looked at the table, hiding his face behind his hair. "I really don't feel good, sorry." He shivered again when the ship moved a bit, making a wave of nausea rush through him. "Please…" He must have looked really pathetic, because finally everyone shut up.

"Err… Are you okay?" Kohaku whispered.

Lucille sighed. "Guess for yourself." His head was pounding, so he laid it on the table and closed his eyes. His hair laid over his shoulders and back as a blanket, warm and somehow safe. Still, better not to fall asleep with so many people around. Why hadn't he taken an aspirin before coming to here?

"Moron," Kohaku hissed.

"You forced me," Lucille hissed back.

Kohaku didn't respond, but Lucille suddenly felt something small being put into his hand. "Go to the toilet for a minute and take those."

Surprised, the blonde opened his eyes. "You took the aspirins with you?"

"I thought you might need them." Kohaku almost seemed embarrassed. "Just go take them!"

Lucille smiled faintly at him. "Thanks." Slowly, he stood up and went to a sailor girl to ask where the nearest toilet was.

By the time he got there, he had to sit down for some minutes, just to get his nausea to lessen. Wouldn't be of much use to take those aspirins if he'd throw them right back up. Well, at least it had been unexpectedly thoughtful of Kohaku to bring them. With a deep sigh he stood up again, walking towards the sinks. Looking into the mirror, he turned on the water. Geez, he really looked like crap. And the doorknob was moving.

A bit startled, he looked behind, glad he had taken the ladies toilets instead of the men's. A hand appeared, holding some shiny object. Before Lucille could even get a good look at it, there was a muffled pang. A sharp sting in his left side, followed by an increasing numbness in his body. The room started to spin, but he knew that if he'd pass out now, he might be as good as dead. "W-who…" he mumbled, slowly collapsing to the floor.

"Lucy!" someone yelled. Kohaku? Lying on his side, facing the door, he could just see some big, tall figure walking in, followed by a smaller one with dark hair. "What the Hell are you doing?" The big figure pushed the smaller one aside and ran off. The smaller person ran towards him, finally getting close enough to recognize. "Hey, moron! Are you okay?"

"Ugh… I think… sedative…" he manage to mumble. "Why… you… came?"

"After you left some guy came in, telling that he couldn't find his wife anywhere. I think they're trying to get some extra guignols before the big trouble begins." A weak smile appeared on Lucille's pale face, and Kohaku stared at him surprised. "What?"

"So… you were… worried?"

Glaring at him, Kohaku replied. "Well… maybe. A little." Lucille smiled again, his eyes automatically sliding shut. "You really okay?"

"Mmh. Just need… to sleep… for a… while…" His slender body went limp, his mouth hanging open just a little. His breathing seemed deep and regular, though.

"Geez…" Carefully, Kohaku took the singer in his arms and stood up. His friend didn't respond at all. "Great. Just great," he growled.

* * *

**Will update soon^^**


	13. Chapter 13

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

Kohaku watched silently as Lucille laid there on the bed, breathing slow and deep. He seemed to be fine, but still. Fact was that the blonde had been drugged, so keeping an eye on him seemed a wise idea. Hopefully he'd wake up soon, though. This was kinda starting to get boring.

With a sigh, he let himself drop down next to Lucille. The singer didn't stir a bit, he just sighed softly. Well, that could be considered a good sign. He had been asleep for at least three hours already, so whatever they had used to sedate him with, maybe it was finally wearing off. Carefully, Kohaku shook at Lucille's shoulder, but he was still completely limp. "Geez, wake up already," Kohaku growled, more worried than he would ever want Lucille to know.

"Hmm…" Lucille groaned softly.

"Lucille?" Kohaku asked. "Hey!" He shook the blonde's shoulder again.

Slowly, Lucille opened his eyes a bit, staring blankly at the ceiling. Quickly, Kohaku sat up, making Lucille look at him. "How long… was I out?" he mumbled.

"Almost three and a half hour," Kohaku replied softly, suspecting the drug hadn't made the singers headache any better. "How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy," Lucille replied. "But a lot better. My head doesn't hurt any less, though."

"Did you even take that aspirin?"

Faintly, Lucille shook his head. "No, and I don't think it would be a good idea to take it now. That is, if you want me to be conscious while stealing that guignol piece."

"Moron," Kohaku growled.

"What for?"

"For…" For getting drugged? That couldn't really be considered his fault. Then why did he feel so annoyed? "For worrying me, I guess," he admitted.

"W-what?" Lucille mumbled surprised.

"I was worried, okay?" Kohaku snapped.

Lucille smiled faintly. "Eh… Thanks, I suppose."

Kohaku just growled something and pulled Lucille into a sitting position. The frail singer swayed a bit, covering his eyes with his hand. "Damn…" With a pang of guilt, Kohaku remembered that Lucille had said he was still feeling dizzy. Oops. Carefully, he laid his arm around the blonde's slightly trembling shoulders to support him, half expecting Lucille to push him away. But instead, he let himself slump against Kohaku. "I… think I'm gonna throw up if you do that again. Idiot."

"Sorry," Kohaku muttered.

"Pff." Slowly, Lucille opened his eyes. "If I meet that bastard again, I'll kill him."

"He wore a mask so I couldn't even get a good look of his face."

"But he evidentially didn't want to get seen by anyone else than the person he was attacking, in this case me. I mean, if he would have wanted to, he could have sedated you too and taken us both."

"The other person missing is a woman, so maybe he's not after men. And since you're posing as a woman…"

Lucille nodded. "So, better to keep an eye out for each other."

"For you, you mean." Kohaku chuckled. "Babe."

"Don't call me that in private," Lucille growled. "Geez, having to give each other such nicknames for our cover is bad enough, but did you have to nickname me 'babe'?"

"Yup. That was entirely necessary," Kohaku smirked.

Lucille sighed annoyed, but didn't respond to it. "What time is it, anyway?" Not too near dinner time, he begged inwardly.

"Almost dinner," Kohaku, of course, replied.

"Damn…"Only the thought of food already made him feel even more like throwing up. "Can't you go alone and tell them I'm sick?"

"So you'll be alone again?" Kohaku argued. "We already know they won't have any problem getting into this room by themselves, and you were already nearly kidnapped once!"

"Did you tell anyone about what happened?" Lucille asked, suddenly realizing something.

"No. Why?"

"That man came running into the room, searching for his wife, you told me. So if the person who tried to abduct me, and most probably also abducted that woman, is one of them, won't they get suspicious if you don't go running to them, telling there is some creep on board? 'Cause that's what a real husband would do, right?"

Kohaku was silent for a moment. "Good thinking," he finally said. "Well, for now I have the excuse of not wanting to leave your side while you slept, but now you've woken up… Maybe it's a good idea to go tell someone now, and act panicked."

Lucille nodded. "Just… will you please carry me? I don't think we'd make a good impression on anyone if I vomit over their shoes."

"It would leave a really smelly impression," Kohaku grinned. Lucille glared at him. "Okay, okay. Let's go then."

With a sigh, Lucille threw his arms around Kohaku's neck, and allowed his friend to pick him up from the bed. Being carried around made him feel sicker immediately, but deciding to ignore it, he kept looking towards where they were heading. "Let's hope we can find one of those sailor freaks."

"They're probably around the dining hall, at this time," Kohaku thought out loud. Quickly, he walked to there, and indeed there were a few of them walking around, cleaning, and preparing the tabled for dinner. "Okay, so how should we act?"

"Not too panicked, since it didn't just happened. Just… scared, I guess," Lucille mumbled. Yuk, that scent of food… Moaning almost inaudibly, he laid his head on Kohaku's shoulder. "And then let's get the Hell away from this smell."

"Just don't throw up on my shirt," Kohaku hissed, while opening the door. "Act scared."

"Can I help you?" one of the sailor girls immediately asked.

"My wife got attacked in the toilet!" Kohaku said, trying to sound as shocked and worried as he could. That wasn't something he was good at, but the girl seemed to believe it.

"Oh, my. By who?"

"Some creep with a mask. They drugged her, but I had come after her because I got worried, so he ran off before he could even touch her."

"Is she all right?"

"I'm okay," Lucille mumbled. "I've already slept for some hours. My honey didn't want to leave me alone, so that's why we didn't came to report it earlier." He kept his face half hidden behind his long hair. "B-but… that person just came in and shot me with some sedative dart. What if he does it to more people?" he mumbled, trying to sound as naïve and traumatized as possible.

She nodded. "I'll go report it to my superior right away. They'll know what to do."

"Thanks. Eh… I'll get her back to bed now," Kohaku said, a bit unsure.

"All right. If any medical care is needed, please tell."

Medical care? With an infirmary that only had aspirins and no official staff? Kohaku thanked her again anyway, and went back to their room. Carefully, he laid Lucille on the bed. No matter how careful it was, Lucille still felt his stomach turn again. "Just a hunch, but I don't think it's a legal sedative that they drugged me with."

Kohaku sighed, before sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I guess I can ask them if I could bring some food to our room. Then I'll only be away for a couple of minutes, but…"

"Didn't you have a knife? Just lend it to me, and I'll be fine. Hopefully. But couldn't you have asked about food while we were there?"

"Yeah right. 'Help, my wife got almost kidnapped. By the way, could we eat in our room tonight?' That would have made it seem kinda odd."

"True," Lucille admitted, closing his eyes. "Ouch, my head is killing me."

"Then go to sleep, moron!"

"Hm," Lucille groaned. "Okay. But wake me up before you leave, and then lend me that knife."

"Duh," Kohaku growled. "And I was just planning on leaving here in silence and let the door wide open."

Lucille smirked. "I thought so." He shifted a bit and sighed. "But seriously, don't stay away too long. Even with a knife, I'd have to use my voice if I get in a real fight. And that would definitely be hard to explain, if we don't want to blow our cover."

"I won't," Kohaku grumbled. Looking at Lucille, lying there so pale and thin, he knew for sure he wouldn't.

* * *

**Short, I know… But I had a lot of exams this week at school.**

**Will update soon^^**


	14. Chapter 14

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**I'm sorry for not updating for so long, but I've been rather busy lately. And since my other fanfic has more readers than this one, I've spend most of my spare time on that one. Nothing much happens in this chapter, but I hope it's at least a bit amusing to read^^**

* * *

Reluctantly, Kohaku squeezed Lucille's small hand to wake him up, even more reluctant to shake at his shoulder. The singer's beautiful, pale face was still a bit tense, and he had been moaning and kicking at something a moment ago. Assuming he was having a nightmare, Kohaku would rather wake him up as gently as possible, and without the risk of the blonde hitting or kicking him in a flash of panic.

"Hey! Lucille, come on," he said loudly. "Wake up already!"

Finally, the slender hand he was holding twitched a bit, and Lucille groaned almost inaudibly. After a deep sigh, he slowly opened his eyes, staring blankly at Kohaku. "Hm?"

"I'm going to ask for food, I'll leave the knife with you." The singer's eyes were already closing again, and he carefully pulled him up into a sitting position. "Hey! You can't defend yourself while you're sleeping, so stay away until I come back."

"But I'm so sleepy," Lucille groaned, moving to lie down again. Immediately, his face tensed in pain. "Ouch…"

"Sit straight," Kohaku commanded, not sure if it was the singer's head or stomach that was hurting again. Or rather, were still hurting. Almost gently, he pulled up a pillow behind Lucille's back, so he was forced to sit. "Now take that knife, and don't accidentally stab yourself with it." Not that he expected him to, but his friend didn't seem too alert right now.

At least Lucille took the knife and nodded. "I'll be careful." He sighed again. "Geez, I'd wish my brain would wake up."

"Yeah, I've been waiting for your brain to awaken ever since I've met you," Kohaku grinned.

It only took Lucille a few moments to register the friendly insult, and he gave Kohaku a weak glare, followed by an even weaker smile. "Bastard."

"I'll be right back, okay?" he promised, while walking out the door and locking it behind him. When he got back, the door was still locked. "Lucille?"

"Hm?"

Good, he didn't get kidnapped. "I brought you some food to. Hamburgers." Carefully, he put down the plates on the bed, while Lucille pulled his legs underneath his body. He still looked pale, but a lot more awake than earlier, and Kohaku sat down at his side before handing him a hamburger.

"So, are you up for what we're gonna have to do tonight?" Kohaku asked him after a while.

"Stealing that guignol skin-piece? Yeah, I think so," Lucille replied, reluctantly taking a small bite from his hamburger. "As long as we're careful and we won't have to fight."

"Still feeling sleepy?"

"Less than before. I guess it was just the after effect of whatever it was they've used to drug me with." The next bite he took seemed a little more enthusiastic. "Nice hamburgers, by the way."

Feeling ridicules since he actually felt glad and relieved about the fact that Lucille wanted to eat again, Kohaku just grumbled something that sounded like 'yes'. Lucille looked at him a bit surprised, probably about the lack of reaction. "Yeah, they're good," Kohaku said, staring at the wall in front of him.

With a soft chuckle, Lucille laid his hand on Kohaku's cheek, forcing his friend to look back at him. "You seem almost… like you care about me and my health." There was a faint spark of uncertainty in his beautiful, crystal blue eyes. Still, he kept staring Kohaku in the eyes.

"Well, if you don't eat, you'll weaken, and you'll only feel worse. And if we'd get into a fight, which will be inevitable, we'll both need to be at full strength." Kohaku hoped that sounded like a good excuse, since he certainly didn't want to admit to the singer that he actually was worried about him personally, and not just because of work. Still, he had the faint suspicion that the blonde knew already, and he didn't know for sure whether he disliked that, or maybe not. Deciding it might be better not to think too much about that question, he pushed Lucille's hand away from his face. "You're annoying."

"Ha, and you're not?" Lucille grinned, taking another bite from his hamburger. It kept quiet for some time, while they both finished their dinner. After Kohaku had threw away the leftovers and thrash, and sat down next to him again, Lucille got up. "I'm going to brush my teeth."

"Whatever," Kohaku responded. Maybe brushing teeth every once in a while would be a good idea. Might as well go after Lucille. When he stepped inside and heard the shower, it already was too late.

"What..!" Lucille shrieked, quickly wrapping a towel around his thin waist. "What the Hell?"

Kohaku felt his cheeks turning red, still he could stop himself from staring at Lucille's beautiful, little too thin body, dripping wet from the shower. "I… I thought you were only brushing your teeth!"

"I was, but then I thought I might as well take a shower." The singer's cheeks got bright pink. "Besides, you're supposed to knock on the door before you enter a bathroom, you perv!"

"What…" Okay, the blonde was right, but no way that he was going to admit that. "You should have said that you were going to take a shower!"

"Just get out!"

Kohaku did, and slammed the door shut behind him. Damn, now he wouldn't be able to get that image out of his mind forever! That thin, beautiful body. And the blonde should have been just a little quicker with grabbing the towel, 'cause Kohaku now had seen the prove that the singer really was male. Another image that he unsuccessfully tried to erase from his memory. Sooner that he would have liked, Lucille came out of the bathroom, dressed in an old, dark blue T-shirt and short, black pants. His dripping wet hair was tied up.

"Your turn." The blonde didn't look at him.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Kohaku growled.

"Never mind," Lucille sighed, letting himself drop down on the bed. "I'm going to sleep. Could you wake me up at midnight? I think the captain's office won't be occupied at that time."

"Yeah, whatever." Almost blushing from embarrassment, Kohaku went to brush his teeth. When he walked back into the room, Lucille was laying curled up on his side, on top of the sheets. "Weren't you going to sleep?"

With a small smile, Lucille turned onto his other side to look at him. "When I close my eyes, it's dark, so I get scared because of the ship. And even though I feel tired, I've slept most of the day because of that stupid drug, so I'm not sleepy."

"Geez, you moron," Kohaku growled. "I can understand the second part. But I'm only in the other room, so why would you be scared?"

Lucille's smile faded and he stared at the wall in front of him. "Because… you might leave."

"Where could I go?"

The singer shrugged annoyed. "It's not like this ship is the safest place to be."

"I'm not a woman, or posing as one, so they won't go after me."

"You might get killed." Those crystal blue eyes darkened a bit. "That tends to happen to friends of mine."

"We talked about this, so don't make me repeat myself." With a sigh, Kohaku sat down on his side of the bed. "I won't get killed so easily, and we both know you're not cursed. So bottom-line, there's no need to be scared of me leaving."

"But…" Lucille started, being stopped by Kohaku's glare. "Stop being scared for me, or you'd better get scared off me!" the dark-haired mane growled. Lucille gave a small chuckle, but finally got off the bed and laid down underneath the bed-sheets. Kohaku went to turn off the light, and then redressed in the dark before laying down next to Lucille. Almost automatically, the blonde moved closer to him, softly taking hold of Kohaku's hand.

"Now I'm not scared," Lucille whispered. Kohaku felt his friend's breath on his face, but didn't bother to move a bit away from him.

"I just hope I'll wake up before midnight."

"Hm. When you were in the bathroom, I set a alarm-clock I had in my suitcase."

"Then why did you ask me to wake you?"

Lucile chuckled. "Because ever since I was a teen, I've been immune to that damn thing."

"Tch. Moron," Kohaku mumbled.

* * *

**Short, but at least it's something… I'll try to update soon^^**


	15. Chapter 15

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

He couldn't remember falling asleep, but suddenly he was woken up by an annoying sound. Lucille's stupid alarm-clock. With a groan, he sat up. Where had the singer put that thing? It was too dark to see anything, but the noise was coming from somewhere underneath the bed. Leaning over Lucille, he felt on the floor and after some searching his hand connected with something hard and what felt like metal. Carefully, he picked it up and confirmed it was the alarm-clock.

Okay, now how was this thing supposed to be turned off? Slamming it against the wall seemed like the quickest way, but Lucile would probably not agree about that. "Hey!" A bit rough, he shook Lucille's small shoulder. "Wake up, moron!"

The singer groaned and stirred a bit. "Hm? Oh, you have to push the button on top."

Finally, the thing went silent, and Kohaku dropped it on Lucille's chest. "How can you not wake up from that noise?" he growled.

Lucille sighed, not bothering to open his eyes. "Intensive training and many late nights."

Without bothering to respond, Kohaku got out of bed and turned on the light. "Let's hurry, so we can get back to sleep."

"Don't forget the knife." Slowly, Lucille opened his eyes and sat up.

"Duh," Kohaku mumbled, trying to hide the fact that he nearly had forgotten. Grabbing the dagger, he walked to the door. Lucille silently followed. Kohaku couldn't really miss the fact that Lucille was nearly sleepwalking, but he tried to ignore that. As long as the blonde wouldn't collapse halfway through, it wouldn't be a problem.

"Kohaku…" With a sigh, Lucille grabbed his friend's arm to steady himself. "Don't walk so fast."

"Don't walk so slow," Kohaku growled, but still slowed down his pace a bit when he saw the way Lucille looked at him. His huge, crystal blue eyes almost childishly begging for some understanding. "Geez, you moron."

Lucille didn't even bother to make a comment on that, still holding on to his colleagues arm. "Mmh… Nearly there," he mumbled softly.

"Yeah. Be quiet already!"

The frail singer just yawned and looked around. No one to be seen, the hallway seemed deserted. Hopefully, the office room would be the same. Kohaku had the door opened in a matter of seconds, allowing them both entrance. The room was completely dark, but there was enough light to see that it was empty as far as people went. Leaving Lucille to stand guard in the doorway, Kohaku quickly walked to the desk and opened the box. The dagger bended a little, but Lucille heard the lock break with a faint sapping sound. A small shiver went down his spine, but evidentially, no one had heard the noise. The hallway kept empty.

"Got it," Kohaku needlessly informed him, while putting back the closed box and leaving the room like they had found it. Quietly, Lucille closed the door, and they both hurried back to their relatively safe room.

With a sigh, Lucille sat down on the bed, feeling his stomachache having grown worse due to the running. Watching how Kohaku put the guignol piece in the net and hung it outside the window, like Lucille had thought of earlier, he laid down onto his back. "Done. Now, let's sleep."

"And be ready to act like we're sleeping when they're gonna search the rooms again," Kohaku added, dropping down on the bed, next to Lucille.

The singer chuckled softly. "Don't worry, I'll be asleep for real." Thankfully, Kohaku decided to be nice for once, pulling the sheets over them both and also caressing some strands of hair away from Lucille's face. "Hm," Lucille mumbled, moving his face towards that soft touch a little. Kohaku, unlike he had expected, didn't move away. Instead, he kept caressing the long strands of pale blonde hair for a little longer.

"Y-You want me to hold you again?" Kohaku asked, sounding bit uncertain.

"I…I'd really like you to," Lucille replied carefully.

"Then…" Kohaku suddenly stood up and turn of the lights before lying down again. "Don't slap me. Or bite."

Before Lucille could ask what for, he felt a strong, warm hand on his cheek, turning his head a bit to the side. Then, soft lips touched his, capturing them in a hesitant but tender kiss. He couldn't help but to moan weakly in surprise, but deepened the kiss automatically. Kohaku clearly hadn't seen that coming, and dropped onto Lucille's chest without breaking the kiss. With another moan, Lucille closed his eyes, embracing Kohaku with both his arms. The urge to breath was almost becoming too much, but neither of them had any intention to break this kiss any sooner than absolutely necessary.

When they finally did break apart, they both just stared at each other gasping. "W-wow…" Lucille finally sighed, allowing his eyes to slid shut. His head was pounding, and his lips felt sore, but he had never felt better than at that moment. And suddenly, he just felt like crying. "I love you." It had barely been loud enough to be a whisper, but he knew his friend had heard him.

"I… l-love you too," Kohaku stuttered embarrassedly. "Now sleep, moron."

Smiling happily, Lucille snuggled against him. "Okay. Sleep well."

"Yeah, you also." A bit uncertain, but clearly gentle, Kohaku embraced him tightly. With a happy smile still on his face, Lucille drifted off to sleep.

Next morning, all seemed normal. The sailor girls seemed more tense and hurried than usual, though, and everywhere Kohaku looked, he saw a few of them studying the passengers. "Gotta be careful," he whispered to Lucille, while walking to the buffet. The frail singer just nodded, but the faint smile on his face didn't disappear a bit. "Stop grinning already!"

"Why? I'm happy, can I?" Lucille responded softly, giving him a bright smile.

Kohaku actually had to swallow before replying. "I don't think I've ever seen you smiling like that before," he remarked a bit boldly, meanwhile grabbing some bread.

"Well," Lucille mumbled. "I never felt like it." With a sigh, he grabbed some bread to. To Kohaku's surprise, he actually ate it without complaining.

* * *

**Short, sorry. I was in France with school last week (read: on a vacation with friends, paid by school XD) So I couldn't write. Anyhow, I hope you like this chapter, and the next one will be here in about a week or 2^^**


	16. Chapter 16

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

According to the ship's schedule, they'd have no activities until half past eight. Then, all passengers could go to see a silent movie. "Probably supposed to be 'romantic'," Kohaku grumbled.

"But it's a horror movie," Lucille read. "Well, maybe we're supposed to get scared and snuggle safely against each other." He grinned at Kohaku's face, the dark-haired man was staring at him open-mouthed.

"Okay, now I am scared."

"You were the one who kissed me last night," Lucille reminded him with a soft chuckle.

"That was without other people around!"

Unexpectedly, Lucille actually felt a bit offended by that. Even a bit hurt. "They think I'm a woman, so what's so embarrassing about me?"

"Well…" Kohaku stared at the floor. "It's just… I'm not really used to being nice to people. Or to you trusting me." He still didn't look at Lucille, his body a bit tense like he was ready to defend himself. And the blonde singer felt a little guilty.

"I didn't think of it that way," he admitted quietly. "But… it's still hard for me to truly dare to depend on you." He smiled softly. "So I guess we're both still in the learning process."

"Guess so," Kohaku chuckled, relaxing a bit. "So, what are we going to do today?"

Lucille yawned. "Well, we could sleep a bit. I know I could use it after last night."

"We'd better discuss what we're gonna do next with our assignment."

"Well, we'd better go to the room with that lock tomorrow night," Lucille suggested. "Since the movie will last until eleven tonight, there'll be way too much chance of people being still awake."

"Hm. You're right," Kohaku growled. "But we'll have to find the way to stop them then. Time's running out, you know."

Lucille nodded, and yawned again. "So… shouldn't we talk about the other thing too?" Kohaku stared at him questioning, so Lucille explained. "Last night. What's the deal? I mean… are we friends or…"

"More," Kohaku mumbled, staring at the floor once again. "I wouldn't have kissed you if I hadn't wanted to. And… I meant it when I said I love you."

"I… I meant it too," Lucille admitted quietly, closing his eyes. "But… don't rush anything, okay? Give me time to trust you as a lover." He opened his eyes with a small gasp when he felt a warm hand taking his. When he opened his eyes, he saw Kohaku looking at him with an unsure expression on his face.

"You trust me, right? I mean, I won't force you to do anything."

"But I also mean trusting you. Don't expect me to fully trust you yet, I try but I can't. Let me take some time to realize this won't just get destroyed like everything else I've ever had." 'Please understand me,' he added in his mind, but didn't say that out loud.

"Geez, of course I know that!" Kohaku mumbled. "Same here, don't expect me to be able to be all nice to you suddenly. That's just not me."

Lucille couldn't help but to chuckle. "I know. And I wouldn't even like you if you were all serious and lovey-dovey all of the time." With a deep sigh, he let himself drop down on his back with his head on a pillow. "Anyway, I'm gonna sleep now. Wake me up if you know anything fun to do."

His friend, or maybe lover, just growled and dropped down beside him. "You're boring."

With a soft chuckle, Lucille turned onto his side, facing Kohaku. "Well, do you have a better idea?" His hair was tickling his nose, making him sneeze softly. With a small chuckle, Kohaku lifted his hand and caressed his hair to the back, and kept his hand on Lucille cheek after that. "Do you… have a better idea?" Lucille mumbled, feeling his cheeks going a subtle shade of pink.

"Nah, not really." Suddenly seeming shy, Kohaku sat up. "Eh, I'll just stay up in case one of those sailor creeps comes by."

Strangely missing the warm touch of Kohaku's hand on his cheek, Lucille sat up too. "Ouch," he groaned, suddenly feeling the familiar pain in his stomach. Going out in the middle of the night hadn't done any good for that. Well, at least it wasn't real seasickness yet, maybe his body had gotten a little used to being on a ship. And he hadn't been forced to sleep alone, which greatly reduced the fear.

"Oi, you okay?" his friend asked worriedly.

"Ah… yeah, just a little stomachache." Slowly, Lucille lied back down. "Well… then I'll go sleep for a while."

"Sure," Kohaku muttered. "I'll wake you up for lunch."

The blonde singer just mumbled something unintelligible and closed his eyes again. Already drifting off, he faintly sensed someone lying down next to him again, embracing him softly. Was he already dreaming? Before he could figure that out, sleep swiftly took over him.

A few hours later, nearly time for lunch, Kohaku sat up again. Reluctantly, he let go of Lucille's slender, soft body. The warm, slow breaths of the singer had been touching his cheek all that time, now leaving a warm spot on his cheek. "I should wake you up," Kohaku whispered, too soft to actually wake Lucille. The blonde just sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes, but then quietly slept on. "Geez, why do you have to look so damned cute, you moron."

This wasn't bringing them any further, so he reluctantly shook at Lucille's thin shoulder to wake him. The singer groaned softly, rolling onto his back. "Hey, time to get up!" At his rather loud voice, the singer stirred a bit, immediately opening his beautiful big eyes.

"What?"

"Lunch."

"Ah." With a long yawn, Lucille sat up. "A buffet again?"

"How am I supposed to know? It didn't say in the schedule," Kohaku growled.

"Easy, easy. Just a question," Lucille smirked. "Shall we go to the dining room now?"

Kohaku didn't reply, but he did take Lucille's hand and pulled the slender singer to his feet. The rather fast movement made the blonde's stomach hurting a bit as a protest, and with a soft groan he grabbed Kohaku's shoulder to steady himself. A bit worried, the dark-haired man stared at him. "Now what?"

"Just my stomach again." With a forced smile, Lucille let go of his friend's shoulder.

"Tch." Without any warning, Kohaku pulled at Lucille's hair. "Quit that plastic smile." Sighing lightly, Lucille's smile got smaller but more real, and he whispered 'sorry'. "Come on." Grabbing Lucille's lower arm, Kohaku dragged him all the way to the dining-room. "Seems like a buffet. Go sit down somewhere, I'll get food."

"Not too much for me, please," Lucille replied softly, feeling himself tremble for a moment when Kohaku let go of his arm. His stomachache was getting worse. Maybe it was going to storm or something, that would explain it. Well, he'd better just get some food, before he would get nauseous.

While Kohaku walked towards the buffet, Lucille slowly walked to the most faraway corner of the room, sitting down at the table in the corner. Nice and calm here, so at least people wouldn't bug them here. To be honest, he felt a bit awkward after yesterday, due to what happened at the origami-workshop. Well, at least no one was staring at him, which helped, but still. He must have looked pathetic. And he briefly wondered if anyone had noticed that he and Kohaku hadn't came back from the toilets. They probably had, since he had been the center of attention when he had left. Not that he had wanted that, but anyway.

With a sigh, he shove his chair against the wall next to him and leaned against it. Not a good idea, now he could almost feel the ship moving. Feeling a faint shiver going through his body, he just laid his head on the table, watching Kohaku walking around the buffet, putting way more food on two plates than Lucille liked. If the violinist thought he was actually going to eat all that, he was wrong. Well, he could always dump everything he didn't want onto Kohaku's plate.

When his friend came walking to their table, Lucille slowly sat up. "Why so much?" he mumbled.

"Because I'm not gonna have you fainting on me due to malnutrition," Kohaku growled, putting the plates down on the table. "I got you only sweet food, so don't nag about it."

Without too much appetite, Lucille looked at what was on his plate. Some donuts and two sandwiches with chocolate-sprinkles. Could have been worse. Reluctantly, he picked up a sandwich and took a small bite. "Eh… Kohaku?" he mumbled, still chewing.

"What?"

"Thanks."

Kohaku looked up, seemingly a little surprised. "You're welcome," he mumbled.

Lucille smiled softly and went on eating. After one sandwich and a donut, he shove his plate away. "I'm done, I think." Apparently, the storm outside had gotten worse, since now he actually was getting nauseous.

"Okay, I'll hurry up," Kohaku replied, eating his last sandwich. "Keep it in, okay?"

"I'm trying," Lucille replied softly, waiting patiently until Kohaku was done eating. When he was, he helped Lucille to his feet almost gently and allowed the singer to lean on him until they got back to their room.

"You gonna sleep again?"

"Nah, I'd rather just rest a little. We can talk, though." Carefully, Lucille sat down on the bed and then laid down onto his side.

"What should we talk about?" Kohaku asked.

"I don't know." His stomach protested again, probably due to a slight movement of the ship. "Just something."

"Well…" After some hours of chatting about the weather and pointless stuff like that, Kohaku had somehow ended up laying down on his back with Lucille's head on his stomach. "Almost time for dinner, you know? How's the nausea?"

"It's a bit better," Lucille sighed, and then chuckled. "Your stomach is making noises."

Kohaku growled. "That's because I'm hungry, you moron."

Lucille smiled. "It sounds funny."

"Then move your head."

"I didn't say it was a bad sound."

Kohaku smirked. "At least my stomach is nice to me."

"My stomach is nice to me too. Just not when I'm on a ship."

"Tch. Let's get some food already."

Letting out a deep sigh, Lucille sat up. "Okay. And… You're a pretty good pillow."

"Well, don't expect to enjoy that comfort too often," Kohaku growled, blushing a bit.

With a somewhat sad smile, Lucille looked at him. "I… actually hoped I could."

"What… Eh, you can, if you really want to. Whatever"

Lucille's smile immediately got a lot happier. "Thanks. Now let's get to diner."

Together they walked to there and sat down at their usual spot in the most faraway corner. Food hadn't even been served yet when a woman walked towards them. Lucille vaguely recognized her as the woman who had sat next to them during the origami-workshop. A bit shyly she looked at him.

"Eh… I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday. We shouldn't have pushed you to sing while you didn't want to."

"It's okay," Lucille replied with a soft smile. "I don't really mind having to sing, I was just not feeling too well."

"Yeah, you two didn't even came back after you went to the toilet," She remarked.

"I… was really exhausted suddenly, so I slept through most of the day, after that," Lucille explained.

"Ah. Not… you know…" She blushed. "Done 'it' without protection?"

"Wha…" With some shock, he realized she was asking if he was pregnant. "No. Eh… there have been some troubles in my past, so we haven't really… done 'it' yet." That should be a good explanation.

"Ah… Oh, sorry." A bit embarrassedly, she looked at the floor.

"It doesn't matter." Lucille smiled brightly at her. "But thanks for coming to apologize."

"You're welcome," she replied with a smile, before returning to her husband.

"Well, that was… interesting," Kohaku chuckled.

Lucille glared at him, but couldn't help grinning. At that moment, dinner was brought in. Pizzas, this time. Though he still didn't had much appetite, Lucille ate half a pizza, and Kohaku ate one and a half. Back in their room, they sat around for a while, just waiting until the movie would begin. Still, they were there early, so they picked a spot at the end of the theatre, a little more private than the other seats.

"So… Will you hold my hand when I get scared?" Lucille grinned.

"Shut up." Kohaku chuckled. "The only scary thing here is you." Still, when the movie started he did allow Lucille to lean his head against his shoulder.

* * *

**I hope you all liked this chapter. They didn't get much, if any, further on their assignment, but at least they had some fluffy moments ;)**

**I'll update soon^^**


	17. Chapter 17

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

Nice. A movie about a ship. A ship haunted by the spirits of deceased crew and passengers. Kohaku felt Lucille tensing every time someone got drowned by the ghosts, all alone and terrified, and knew that this wouldn't be good for tonight's sleep. "Do you want to leave?" he whispered quietly in the singer's ear. Even that light touch seemed to startle Lucille, but the blonde quickly recovered and shook his head.

"It's just a movie. I just don't like it being on a ship," he admitted. On screen, someone got locked up again, in a room slowly filling up with water. Normally, Kohaku rather enjoyed these kind of scenes, but he felt Lucille's frail body shivering. "B-brings back some memories, I guess." That last sentence was obviously meant to sound dryly, but it came out rather shakily. "Damn, if I had seen this movie before getting trapped in that room as a child, I don't know if I'd have kept my sanity."

Though Kohaku was tempted to ask what sanity he was talking about, he decided against that. Lucille probably would feel more hurt than comforted by that sort of humor, right now. So Kohaku just quietly laid an arm around those small shoulders, pulling the singer gently against him. "Don't let it get to you, okay?" Then, feeling a bit exposed by acting so protective, he added; "I'd like to get some sleep tonight, and it won't help if you get some kind of panic attack."

Lucille didn't even bother to glare at him, instead he just stiffened a bit and refused to reply. After a few minutes of awkward silence, he finally spoke up again. "You don't have to comfort me, I'll just crawl up into some corner and try not to scream too loudly. So you'll be able to sleep on calmly." It didn't even sound blaming. Just hurt.

"I didn't mean it like that," Kohaku mumbled, feeling slightly guilty. "Just… I don't like having you so terrified while there's nothing to be afraid of."

"There is, in my mind," Lucille whispered, his big blue eyes half closed. "There are enough monsters and ghosts there to last for a lifetime."

"Geez…" How was he supposed to reply to that? But the blonde did seem to want some sort of comforting remark from him. "Well, they won't get you as long as I can help it."That sounded so not like himself, he felt his cheeks going red instantly. Luckily, it was too dark to see much anyway. At least Lucille appeared satisfied with that reply, the singer finally relaxed a bit against him. Again, people got drowned on screen, but this time Lucille just pushed himself tighter against Kohaku.

"I generally like a good horror-movie, but couldn't they have picked something in an old mansion or a forest or something?" Lucille groaned, almost inaudibly.

"Then don't watch," Kohaku suggested, trying to sound nice instead of annoyed.

"But then I'll just hear the sounds, and my memories will fill in the blanks. That's even worse." He moaned faintly. "And I feel sick."

"It's probably storming now, outside."

Lucille nodded softly. "I felt it coming. Like I told you, I was already getting nauseous all day long. But now my stomach really hurts too."

In the faint light in this theatre, Kohaku could see with some effort that Lucille had both arms clutched around his stomach. Geez, his entire body was stiffened and uneasy. "Does it feel worse than usual?"

"I have to sit still the entire time now, so that doesn't do much good for it," Lucille admitted silently. "And it's over ten o'clock already, so I'm getting a bit tired." He sounded more than a bit tired.

"We can leave," Kohaku tried again, but again Lucille shook his head.

"That'll draw too much unwanted attention. There's only less than an hour left before we can go back to our room normally. I can sit it out." He hung against Kohaku's shoulder like some beautiful limp doll, his eyes half closed and his face pale and exhausted. Well, hopefully he'd fall asleep soon.

Almost an hour later, he still hadn't, but he did crawl closer and closer against the dark-haired man, more scared because of his own fears than from the movie. And he was trembling all over his body, though Kohaku didn't know for sure if that was from stress and being scared, or from pure exhaustion. Probably both. Another person got trapped on screen, and this time it was shown in all detail how the room got filled with water and he drowned slowly.

Lucille shivered deeply and moaned almost inaudibly. "K-Koha… I-I'm… gonna t-throw up…"

"Shit…" As fast as he could, Kohaku stood up and dragged Lucille out of the cinema, being followed by one of those scary sailor-girls. He had barely reached the hallway when Lucille collapsed onto his knees and launched the half-digested remains of his dinner onto the carpet. Swearing, Kohaku kneeled behind him, keeping the blonde's hair out of his face.

"Is she all right?" the sailor-girl asked.

Though Kohaku seriously wanted to yell at her that Lucille obviously wasn't, he managed to just growl; "Not really. Seasick."

"Should we bring her to the infirmary?" the sailor-girl continued.

"N-no. I-I'd rather just go to bed," Lucille mumbled shakily, before Kohaku could reply. "S-sorry for the mess I made on the carpet."

"Don't worry about it, get well soon," the sailor-girl smiled, so fake it was almost scary.

"Thanks," Kohaku replied, before lifting Lucille into his arms and walking away quickly. The frail singer was trembling in his arms, his eyes tightly shut and breathing rapidly. "Oi! You still awake?"

"Y-yeah…" Lucille groaned. "Damn, I'm sorry. I just couldn't hold it in any longer."

"Don't be sorry, you didn't do it for fun, right?"

"N-no."

"Right. So you have no reason at all to feel guilty in any way. What matters now is to get you cleaned up and into a warm bed."

"S-sounds good," Lucille mumbled tiredly. "I just h-hope… the nausea w-won't come back."

"Isn't your stomach empty already?"

"Y-yeah." The frail singer shivered deeply. "But now it hurts even more, and I-I keep… keep t-thinking… about… that storage room. And I was… so scared that water would c-come in… and I'd drown…" His breathing got quicker. "I'd drown all a-alone." Kohaku could practically feel the blonde's heart beating rapidly against his own chest.

"Calm down already." Gently, Kohaku cuddled him. "You're safe. I… I won't let anyone hurt you, or anything happen to you." He felt his cheeks heating up rapidly. "Thanks a lot for making me say that, you moron."

Lucille just moaned faintly, hiding his face against Kohaku's shoulder. "I'm g-gonna throw up… a-again…"

"Shit…" They were only some feet away from their room. "Keep it in for a moment!"

"Nng," the singer moaned, covering his mouth with his hand. "H-hurry…" His breath came in heavy gasps now, like he was having trouble to get enough oxygen. His face was as white as a sheet.

"Oi." Carefully, Kohaku ran the last part to their room and sat Lucille down in front of the toilet. "Breathe a little slower, okay?" Lucille just sat there, slumped against him and still gasping. His eyes were tightly closed, small tears dripping down his cheeks. "Lucille!"

"D-don't…" A shuddering sigh escaped the blonde's pale lips. "Don't… y-yell at me." He visibly tried to calm himself down, forcing his breathing to slow, but just couldn't do so. "H-Help…" he whined.

"Crap…" With some shock, Kohaku realized that the blonde was hyperventilating. "Oi, Lucille!" What the Hell was he supposed to do? Leaving Lucille to calm himself down was no option, and if he wouldn't stop hyperventilating soon, he'd pass out in less than minutes. "Lucille!" Great, now he was starting to panic himself.

"G-get… a paper… b-bag…" Lucille managed to whisper, in between gasps.

"Where am I supposed to get that?"

Lucille tried to answer, but suddenly vomited. Trying to aim at the toilet, he leaned forward. Almost too late, so his chest hit the porcelain with a soft thud, making him gasp again. Nearly choking, he whimpered; "H-help…"

"Crap… Come here!" Quickly, Kohaku wiped Lucille's face a bit cleaner, took a deep breath and then placed his mouth over Lucille's. The singer barely had the energy to fight against it, making some weak, jerking moves to try and free himself. Then, so suddenly it scared Kohaku a bit, the blonde went limp in his arms. Resisting the urge to let go of him to check if he was okay, Kohaku kept holding the limp body carefully against his own until Lucille's breathing went back to relatively normal. For a moment, when he took his lips off the singer's, Lucille stiffened a bit but then slumped against him.

"You… okay?" Kohaku asked slowly, gently repositioning Lucille to sit on his lap with his legs to one side and his head leaning against Kohaku's chest. The slender singer barely reacted, he only gave a faint nod and swallowed reluctantly. "Say something." Kohaku hoped he didn't sound too scared, but he really needed to know that Lucille was all right.

"U-using your mouth as a p-paper bag." A slightly airless chuckle. "Smart m-move. Thanks." The singer was still trembling a little. "Geez, that w-wasn't a n-nice feeling."

"For your information, it wasn't that fun to be witnessing it either," Kohaku growled, annoyed by the fact that he was trembling too. Barely noticeable, but still. He never felt scared or worried for someone else, and he never ever trembled! "You looked like you were gonna die or something!"

Lucille just opened his eyes and looked at him, a bit unsure. The crystal-like blue orbs were even brighter from the tears shining in them, that hadn't gotten the chance to dry yet. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then apparently changed his mind and closed it again. He kept staring at him, though, unsure and almost hurt.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Kohaku growled.

With a shaky sigh, Lucille closed his eyes. "It's not something you did. It's my own fault, and I'm the one making people hurt by making them hurt me."

"What?"

Another deep sigh, making Kohaku worry the blonde was going to hyperventilate again. He didn't, though. Instead, he reopened his eyes and looked at some spot past his friend. "Would… you have cried?"

"What the Hell?"

"If I'd have died. Would you be crying now?"

"Eh…" Taken aback by that question, Kohaku looked at the floor. "I don't do crying." Lucille seemed hurt by that statement, but didn't say a thing. "Well… Maybe. But never in public," Kohaku admitted reluctantly. "You moron."

A barely visible, but truly happy smile appeared on Lucille's pale face. Then, his eyes slid shut again and his breathing went soft and regularly. Fast asleep.

"Geez. You…" Finally feeling the stress leaving his body, Kohaku hugged Lucille tightly. "How could you think I wouldn't?" He'd never admit it, let alone show it to anyone, but he did actually have emotions other than feeling annoyed, bored or angry. And he considered Lucille a friend now, if not more. Couldn't that idiot realize himself that Kohaku would be sad if he'd lose him? Or had he just wanted to hear it out loud? Or, and that seemed the most probable to Kohaku, the blonde really hadn't known for sure, hadn't been able to convince himself that people did care about him. Which meant that Kohaku was going to have a hard time trying to get truly close to him.

"Moron," the dark-haired man whispered, before carefully lifting Lucille off the floor. "You were supposed to take a shower. How am I supposed to make that happen?" Lucille peacefully slept on, his head pillowed on Kohaku's shoulder and his soft lips caressing the other man's throat. Kohaku really didn't want to wake him, but neither could he lay the singer in bed smelling like vomit. Well, he could do that, but then he'd have to sleep on the floor on the other side of the room himself, since he couldn't dump Lucille there after what happened this evening.

Besides, even in his sleep, Lucille's entire body relaxed in a way that allowed him to be as close against Kohaku as possible. Leaving him alone would probably cause him to have a nightmare, which wouldn't help to save the rest of their night's sleep. "Geez," Kohaku growled. "You'd better not wake up."

Carefully, he sat Lucille back down on the floor, with his back leaning against a wall, and started undoing the singer's shirt. Technically only his face and chest needed to be cleaned up, so there would be no need to even touch the blonde's pants. The shirt fell onto the floor, and for a moment Kohaku just stared at Lucille's smooth, pale flesh. He was undoubtedly beautiful, although a bit too thin. His ribs were showing only a little, though, not even enough to distract from his slender waist und subtle muscles. Almost automatically, Kohaku lifted up his hand to touch that smooth, warm skin, but caught himself just in time. Damn, what the Hell was he thinking?

Annoyed for reasons he didn't want to know, he grabbed a washing-cloth from the sink. Careful but quickly, he washed Lucille's face and then his upper body. The singer sighed softly when the cloth touched his skin, but didn't wake. Kohaku was more thankful for that than he would ever want the singer to know. When he was done, he carefully carried Lucille to bed, laying him down gently underneath the covers.

Even though the singer didn't wake, he did cuddle weakly against Kohaku. "Idiot," the dark-haired man mumbled, but he did place his arms around Lucille's thin frame. Lucille just kept breathing steadily, his face still a bit paler than usual, but otherwise beautiful in the darkness of their room. His hair laid sprawled underneath both of their bodies, Making Kohaku reluctant to move, afraid he'd accidentally pull it and hurt the singer. Strange to think that only a week ago, he wouldn't even have cared about that. Hell, he wouldn't even have thought about sleeping in one bed with this guy, let alone holding him like this. But he saw Lucille's pain now, and it actually felt good to be able to make him feel better this way. The only think that scared him now, was that Lucille truly seemed like he would break down if he'd lose him. Kohaku had never felt so needed by anyone before. And honestly, he wouldn't want to lose Lucille either. Somehow, he had the feeling his life would just lack something really good without Lucille there with him.

Suddenly, the blonde sighed deeply and pressed his face against Kohaku's chest. "Mmh… Kohaku…" Another sigh. "You're soft."

Feeling his cheeks heating up rapidly, Kohaku laid as still as possible, only caressed Lucille's back softly to make him fall back to sleep. After what felt like hours, Lucille finally yawned and then relaxed again. "Lucille?" Kohaku whispered unsure. No reply, the singer didn't even stir. "Geez…" His small body felt so soft and warm in Kohaku's arms. It felt safe, having him here, knowing for sure that he was all right and protected. At the same time, it scared the Hell out of him how frail Lucille had seemed, now half an hour ago. Would he ever be able to truly protect him? Geez, since when was he such a emotional moron?

Clenching his eyes shut, he whispered almost inaudibly; "Why do you make me feel this way? Why… do I love you so damn much?"

* * *

**I'll update soon^^**


	18. Chapter 18

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**Kohaku gets a bit of a breakdown this chapter...**

The first thing he felt was how warm it was, and that something heavy was covering him. It made his stomachache a bit worse, but not enough to be worth moving for. So he just kept lying there quietly for some time, until he finally recalled what had happened last evening. Crap. Kohaku was probably pissed off at him, for panicking so badly while there wasn't even any danger. It had felt so terrifying for Lucille, though. Not only the memories of being trapped in that room, but hyperventilating had made him feel like he was actually drowning. And then…

He frowned, trying to remembered what had happened after that. He had thrown up, almost choking. And then… He groaned softly. Kohaku had kissed him, or something like it, to make him stop hyperventilating. He had acted like an idiot, thrown up, and Kohaku had still kissed him. "Sorry," he whispered, hoping Kohaku wouldn't actually hear him.

Someone suddenly sighed against his cheek, and startled Lucille opened his eyes. "Oh…" he whispered. So that was the heavy blanket. It also explained why it was so warm. Kohaku was lying fully on top of him, his arms wrapped around the singer's small frame. Lucille smiled softly, until he saw Kohaku's face. In was wet from tears. "K-Kohaku?" The dark-haired man didn't respond. Considering the fact that the tears had barely gotten the chance to dry, he couldn't have been asleep for more than a few minutes, though. It seemed cruel to wake him up this early.

Still, due to the pressure, his stomach was aching more and more badly. His chest didn't feel much better, probably since how he had been gasping for breath last evening. Meaning he had to get away from underneath his friend, without waking him.

Carefully, he moved a little and tried to push Kohaku away a bit. It only resulted in the dark-haired man tightening his embrace, like he was scared Lucille would flee. The pain in the blonde's stomach turned into a fire for a moment, and Lucille couldn't help but to let out a strangled scream. "K-Kohaku!" Despite his good efforts, that did wake his friend up immediately. "G-get off of… my s-stomach…" Lucille begged, clenching his eyes shut.

"Shit… sorry!" Kohaku practically jumped off him. "I didn't mean to!"

"D-don't bother." Lucille managed to smile faintly. "I'm fine, really. The pressure just made it worse. Think it is a virus, but it's a lot better than some days ago." Kohaku still looked at him guiltily, the almost dried-up tears on his cheeks making him look almost cute. Though he'd probably kill Lucille if he told him that. Aw, what the heck. "Come here, you…" Gently he threw his arms around his friend, kissing him softly on his lips. "You're cute," he whispered after that.

"Wha… Well, thanks I guess," Kohaku growled. "You're a moron." And after a short silence. "A damn cute moron."

"Kohaku…" Would his friend get angry? Lucille had also cried and worse around him, so truly there was nothing to be ashamed of. "You… were crying?"

For a moment, Kohaku just stared at him. Then he sighed and dropped his head onto Lucille's shoulder. "I was thinking. Well, worrying."

"About what?" Lucille asked, tenderly stroking Kohaku's hair.

"About you! What else? I mean, geez, you're so… broken, sometimes. And I want to protect you, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to protect you. I can try to protect you from physical harm, but I can never protect you against your past, your secrets… against yourself. And I'm so afraid that one day, something will happen, that you will do something stupid, and that I'll lose you forever. I don't wanna lose you, I love you too much to be able to bear that!"

Lucille needed a moment to process all that, but he did get the point. "I…" What should he say? What could he even say? "I can't promise that my past will never pass me by, neither can I promise that my secrets will never get to me. But… I will keep fighting, and I will always hold on to stay with you." He sighed shakily. "But… Well, not to sound negative, but you make it seem like I'm the only one who can ever get killed. Seriously, you can also get hit by a car or get killed otherwise. Then I'd be left alone." He felt Kohaku's fingers brushing through his hair. "I don't wanna lose you either, you know." He felt tears dropping onto his skin. Kohaku's tears. With some surprise, he realized he never had witnessed the dark-haired man cry before. Honestly, he had never even though that was possible. "I love you. You know that."

"I do know," Kohaku mumbled. "Geez, if you ever tell this to anyone, that I cried, then I'll have to kill you!"

"I thought you didn't want me to die," Lucille chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Yeah. Then I'll just have to shut you up like this." Again, they kissed, though this time it were Lucille's lips getting captured.

Though his stomach was still hurting, the slim singer couldn't help but to moan quietly and press his body against Kohaku's. "Nng… K-Kohaku…" His eyes slid shut automatically, his entire being fixated on those soft lips kissing his and the warm body against his own. Suddenly, Kohaku pulled back and Lucille dropped back onto the bed with his eyes still closed for a moment. "Wow…" he sighed after some moments, finally reopening his eyes. "That was…"

"Shut up!" Kohaku growled harshly, not looking at him. "Whatever you can say, when I kiss you… It's like I'm deliberately signing myself up for a lifetime of torture! Just… stop loving me!"

"B-but…" Lucille started, feeling more than a little hurt.

"No! If you don't love me… t-then I won't love you and we won't get hurt so bad when… when…" Kohaku's shoulders were shaking, but when Lucille tried to embrace him the other man just pushed him away. "I just can't take it to feel so responsible about someone!"

"Kohaku…" Tears were forming in his eyes, but he tried to fight them. How could his friend say that? "I… I thought you wanted to protect me." 'I thought you loved me,' he added in his mind, but didn't dare say that out loud.

"I do… But… I can't!" With those words, Kohaku jumped out of bed and fled out of their room. For a few moments, Lucille just stared after him, trying to understand. So… Kohaku did love him, but he didn't want to? No, wait. He had said he couldn't. Was that fear of something happening to Lucille really that large? But didn't they talk that over just some minutes ago? And he couldn't just undo the amount of trust Lucille had put into him, telling him everything about his past. He couldn't just undo how he made Lucille feel!

Without thinking, Lucille ran after his friend. He wasn't far, leaning against the wall on the end of the hallway. "Listen, you complete idiot! You can't do this!"

"Why not!" Kohaku yelled back.

"Because…" Tears were finally escaping from his eyes, but he didn't care anymore. "I don't care if you'll let yourself love me, but you've made me feel happy for the first time in a really long time! Whether you like it or not, you've managed to make me… need you." Trembling, he collapsed unto his knees. "You say you can't protect me from being hurt, but only loved ones can really do damage. You've made me trust you, love you. As the only person still alive!" A soft sob shook his slender frame. "You're the only one able to truly hurt me. I hadn't t-thought… you'd actually u-use that p-power." The sobbing made it impossible to talk, and all he could do was sink onto the floor, his side against the wall, and feeling more embarrassed than ever.

Silently, Kohaku walked towards him and lifted him off the floor. Still quietly, they walked back into the room and Lucille got dumped onto the bed. As soon as Kohaku had closed the door, he finally looked at Lucille. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I can… be a person you can talk to. But I've never had any friends, ever. It'll just end as a pain. So I don't think I can ever be more."

It felt like a kick in his stomach, but somehow he managed to stop crying. "Then… I guess I'm back where I started." He smiled bitterly. "You could have thought of this before you reminded me of how it feels to actually not be alone and uncared for."

"But…"

"Just go away!" Lucille yelled desperately. "I thought you wanted to help, but now I feel worse than ever, just because you can't handle emotions and fears that every other person in this damn world can!" A horrible thought came up in his mind. No, that couldn't be. "Kohaku… Did you only gain my trust to be able to dump me?"

"Wha… No! I'd never do that!"

Lucille just ignored him, his face pale and emotionless. "That is what it feels like. You acted like you cared, I told you everything, allowed you to see me at my worst. And this morning when I woke, I didn't have a single doubt left. I trusted you fully." His breathing hitched. "And then we talked so honestly about our feelings, then you kiss me and it was the best kiss I ever received from anyone… Then, next thing I know, you're telling me to forget it all? To get back to the point where I wasn't even a person, but just some ghost inside, always wearing a smiling mask on the outside?" That feeling of emptiness and regret was coming back already, though. "I should have… should have know that it would turn out this way. I don't deserve being happy, after all." Another bitter smile. "Maybe it's better this way."

Soundlessly, he laid down and hid underneath the covers. Kohaku started saying something, so he pushed his hands over his ears and ignored it. Still, despite what he had said, the disappointment and regret were aching inside his chest. Because for a few days, he had truly believed he could be happy. To have those hopes crushed in such a short time, was just too cruel. Knowing that he would spend the rest of his life like this, hurt and alone, always acting when he was around other people, that was nearly too much to bear.

"Lucille!" Kohaku yelled, pulling the sheets away from Lucille's body. "Listen to me! I… I'm sorry! I just… I don't know what I'm thinking anymore, except… It's not your you're fault, it's me. I'm never nice to people. All people I ever was nice to, died. If the same thing happens to you, then… I'll feel hurt and lonely for the rest of my life."

"You mean like how I've been feeling for years?" A small spark of hope came back. It hadn't all been a cruel joke? "Kohaku, you have the power to make me happy. Ever since I screwed up what was once my life, I've never had anyone who could do that. No one ever managed to get close enough. It means you can either choose to have me live my life wanting to die from loneliness, or you could easily make my life happy." He looked his friend in the eyes. "You said you're scared of me dying. Don't you understand that if I'm alone again, life won't mean a thing to me except for a source of pain? But… If you'll love me, I'll never stop wanting to live."

With a shaky sigh, Kohaku closed his eyes. "I'm such an idiot. But…"

"Let me put it this way," Lucille interrupted him. "Either you love me and I'll do everything to spend an eternity with you. Or you'll force me to be alone again, and I'll make sure to get killed on the first possible occasion."

For a moment, Kohaku just stared at him, his eyes unreadable. Then, suddenly, he let himself drop down on the bed, next to Lucille, and put the sheets back up over them. A bit shocked, Lucille felt him snuggling tightly against his body. "Lucille?" His voice sounded so unsure. Lucille just mumbled 'yeah?'. "Will you truly never deliberately leave me? No matter how you feel, no matter what happens?"

The singer's breath caught slightly, hearing the begging tone in Kohaku's voice. "I promise," he replied loud and clear. "If you promise to never hurt me again."

"I promise," Kohaku mumbled, finally relaxing fully.

* * *

**This chapter was a bit… pointless, I'm afraid... I've been quite busy this week, but I wanted to update this weekend, so that's why ^^'**

**I'll update soon, and next chapter will be better^^**


	19. Chapter 19

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

* * *

An hour late for breakfast, they woke up for the second time that morning. Not that Lucille minded it that much, since Kohaku had somehow ended up lying with his upper body over Lucille's stomach again. "Oi… Wake up, you!" he groaned, softly poking Kohaku's cheek. The dark haired man grumbled something unintelligible, faintly hitting at Lucille's hand. "Kohaku!"

"What!" Finally, his friend opened his eyes. "L-Lucille?" Immediately he sat up, causing the bed-sheets to slide of both their bodies.

Surprised, Lucille looked up to him. "Eh… good morning?" 'Please don't have a breakdown again' he added to that in his mind. They had work to do today, using the guignol-skin to get into that secret room and find something to stop the guignols and whoever was the one who was behind all this. Seriously, he didn't need any more to worry about right now.

"You're pretty pale, but your cheeks are red."

"So?"

"Do you have a fever?"

"Wha…" Well, he did have a bit of a headache, but that was nothing new this week. "Maybe. I don't know."

Gently, Kohaku placed his hand on Lucille's forehead. "It's not much, but you are a bit more warm than usual."

"So, in one week you know everything about my body?" Lucille grinned.

"Well…" Kohaku suggestively caressed the singer's cheeks. "Not everything. Yet."

The blonde felt his cheeks heating up, and quickly stepped out of bed. "L-let's get to work, okay?" he stammered. "This is the last chance we have to get something to safe us all. Anything else planned today?" Kohaku threw him the schedule, and Lucille quickly read it. "Swimming again?" he groaned. "They hate me, don't they?"

"Sure they do," Kohaku chuckled, taking back the schedule. "Read better, moron. This time we only have two hours there, and then we can go to the ship's library to 'get in touch with the written art'." That last part came out rather sarcastic. "Well, that won't do me much good if they only have classical crap with way too much text."

"Can't read?" Lucille asked carefully.

"I can, just not that good. I never really went to school that much," Kohaku admitted. "I mean, I can read directions and road-signs and stuff like that, but real books is something entirely different."

Lucille smiled softly. "Well, if I don't drown during swimming time, I could read a book to you. If you'd like." Would his friend feel embarrassed by that suggestion? Hopefully not, since Lucille hadn't meant it in an unfriendly way at all.

For a moment, Kohaku just looked at him. Then he averted his gaze towards the floor. "Sure. But no romantic crap, okay?"

His smile widening, Lucille started redressing. "I'll read whatever you want me to."

Almost an hour later, they walked towards the pool. The singer seriously hoped he wouldn't end up nearly drowning again. This time, Kohaku knew about him not being a good swimmer way beforehand, and would probably not make fun of him. That would help, undoubtedly. Now he just had to remember to make sure he's keep walking behind Kohaku as soon as the skirt on the swimming-suit would get wet, so the bump between his legs wouldn't be spotted by the other people on this ship.

"Are you ready?" Kohaku asked some minutes later, when they were standing at the edge of the pool. Lucille took a deep breath and nodded. "Just hold my hand," Kohaku said, taking his. Together they jumped in. Immediately, Lucille panicked a bit, desperately kicking with his legs to get his head above the water. Before he could truly panic, though, Kohaku simply pulled him up, keeping an arm around his thin waist to keep him up. "Relax. Where do you wanna swim to?"

After a moment of steadying himself, the blonde looked around. It wasn't until now that he saw a huge waterslide, on the other side of the pool. "To that waterslide," he pointed.

"That's the deepest part of the pool, moron."

"So? You'll keep me alive, right?" Lucille grinned. "Besides, I really want to go off that slide while sitting on your lap."

Kohaku actually seemed a bit shy. "Whatever," he groaned finally, dragging Lucille through the water, towards the stairs. After climbing them, they ended up in a small, rather dark room with the slide's entrance. Two big holes in it were blowing out water, to keep the slide wet and probably also to make it quicker.

"Eh… you'll hold me, right?" Lucille mumbled, a bit scared. It was a tunnel-shaped thing, so it was pitch-dark in there.

"Duh," Kohaku grumbled, sitting down on the floor with his legs already in the slide. "Sit on my lap, with your legs to the front."

"Okay." Carefully, Lucille sat down, turning a bit onto his side to be able to wrap his arms around Kohaku's chest. The dark-haired man placed his arms tightly around Lucille's thin shoulders, making him feel a bit more safe. "Drag me back up the moment we end up underwater, okay?"

"I will, don't worry. As soon as you're ready, we'll go down," Kohaku said softly. "So?"

"I'm ready," Lucille nodded.

"Okay, I'm gonna let go of you for a moment, so hold on tight." Before Lucille could even say anything back, Kohaku used his arms to push them off the platform and fully onto the slide. Then, he wrapped his arms around Lucille so tightly, it almost hurt. "Stop screaming, you idiot!"

"N-ngg," Lucille moaned, not realizing until then that he, in fact, was screaming. The thing that couldn't stop screaming, though, was his stomach. Pressing the side of his face against Kohaku's chest, he tried to ignore the pain brought on by their movements. No, he wanted to enjoy this!

A sharp turn, they nearly ended up upside-down, but Kohaku managed to keep Lucille on top. "Oi! Lucille!"

Taking a deep breath, the frail singer tightened his grip. "You're nice to hold when you're all wet," he whispered in the dark-haired man's ear.

"Wha…" Before Kohaku had the chance to yell at him, the slide ended and they both dropped into the pool. Lucille tightened his grip around Kohaku's chest, feeling how the other man swam back up, getting their heads above the water. "Stop squeezing!"

"Sorry," Lucille grinned, before giving the dark-haired man a kiss onto his lips. "But you really are nice to hold, you know?"

Kohaku's cheeks went slightly red, to Lucille's amusement. No way, he had actually made this man blush because of one small remark. "Moron," Kohaku mumbled. "Eh… Wanna go off that slide again?"

"You can, If you want to, but I'd rather not. I mean, it was really fun, but the speed and movements doesn't do too much good for my seasickness." Though that usually didn't cause pain, only nausea. "Or whatever virus I've catched."

"Probably just stress. Still the same stomachache?" Kohaku assumed.

"Yeah." A deep sigh. "You're probably right. It didn't start until we heard about this assignment being on a ship." His wet hair drifted softly around them, making him feel like they were inside some sort of painting. Well, then it should've been a lake, with rocks all around, perhaps a rainbow…

"Oi, moron!"

"Eh?"

"What were you thinking about?" Kohaku sounded slightly unsure.

"Ah…" Lucille smiled. "Nothing. Just… this feels nice. Being in your arms." Now he felt his own cheeks heating up a bit. "Eh, but maybe you could learn me how to swim a bit?" he asked quickly.

"Sure," Kohaku agreed. "Just… like… Well, move your legs and arms a bit…" Carefully, he let go of Lucille for a moment. "Hold my hand, okay? Just with one of your hands."

Lucille did, and immediately sunk. Quickly, he moved his legs and free arm, while Kohaku softly dragged him forward through the water. It only took some minutes before he managed to keep his head above the water by himself. "Wow, you're a pretty good teacher," he sighed.

"T-thanks," Kohaku mumbled. "Want a break now? We still have a little more than an hour left."

"That'd be nice." It felt great to swim, even though he knew he'd sink as soon as Kohaku would let go of his hand. But this morning had been exhausting, and he still didn't feel too well. Kohaku dragged him to the small island in the middle of the pool, where they had been sitting on the first day, and pulled the slender singer onto his lap. A bit surprised, Lucille stared at him. For a moment, Kohaku only stared back, then he averted his gaze towards the water.

"You're way too thin."

"Well, thanks for telling me." Where had that remark came from.

"I meant to say… Well…" Kohaku took a deep breath. "You're damn nice to look at when you're only wearing a swimming-suit.

The frail blonde smiled softly. "You look hot in swimming-pants."

"This is getting pretty awkward."

"Indeed."

For some more moments, they kept sitting there. The feeling of water splashing over his legs was quite relaxing, as was the feeling of being so close to someone he trusted, and Lucille was starting to feel a bit sleepy. Well, at least they wouldn't look suspicious to those weird sailor girls, with him lying in Kohaku's arms like this. For a moment, he closed his eyes.

"Oi… babe," Kohaku said softly.

"Hm?" Lucille groaned, still hating that nickname.

"You slept for nearly an hour, it's almost time to get out of the pool," Kohaku chuckled.

"Wha…" For a moment, he wondered what he should be most shocked about. Falling asleep in someone's arms in public, or the fact that Kohaku had actually kept holding him silently instead of waking him up. "Did anyone see?"

"Some woman said we looked cute," Kohaku grumbled, not looking at him. "So yes, it was noticed."

The small blonde couldn't help but to grin. "Sorry to make you feel shy, honey."

"Sometimes I really believe you're evil."

"You still doubt that?" Lucille tried his best to make his smile look as devilish as possible. "You're so cute."

"Geez, stop creeping me out!" Kohaku hissed. "I won't hesitate to make you swim back to the border of the pool by yourself, you know?"

Deciding it wouldn't be such a good idea to risk that, Lucille just chuckled. "Shall we go back to our room then? We'll have some spare minutes before we have to go for lunch."

"Okay." Kohaku dragged him to the edge of the pool, climbed out, and then helped Lucille out. Luckily, no one was watching so they could walk out at a normal pace. After redressing and walking back to their room, Lucille sat down on the bed and beckoned Kohaku to sit down beside him.

"We'll go to that room tonight, right?" he asked.

"That's the only chance we'll have before the ballroom-dance. But…" Kohaku seemed a bit unsure. "Well, before that, maybe some hours after dinner, I wanted to take you somewhere else. We'll have to sneak out, though, since all passengers are supposed to stay below-deck."

He couldn't possibly mean… No, he probably didn't even remember. Or maybe he did. "Where will you be taking me?"

"To watch the sunset," Kohaku mumbled, staring at the floor. "If you'd like."

A big smiled appeared on his face. "Kohaku… You're… everything you don't seem to be."

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?" the dark-haired man asked.

"Definitely," the singer chuckled, before softly kissing the other man. "Thanks so much."

"For what? It's not sure we won't get caught sneaking out," Kohaku growled, his cheeks a bit red.

"Still, that you remembered that I told you I wanted to see such a sunset at sea again, that's amazing. So thanks for truly listening to me."

"You moron. I've always listened to you. I just always ignored what you said." Suddenly, he pulled the singer gently against him. "You're the cutest idiot ever."

Lucille grinned. "Thanks a lot." With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment. No to fall asleep again, but just to enjoy trusting someone enough to lean on him like this. It had been years since the last time he had been able to do so. "You're the most sweet bastard ever." He felt more than heard Kohaku chuckle.

"Geez, a week ago I'd never dared to hold you like this. I'd be embarrassed to death."

"Likewise. And… I'd have been scared." It hurt a bit to admit that. "I'd been too scared to enjoy it, since in my experience if I'd trust someone, they'd hurt me."

"I won't ever do that." A short silence. "Well, let's just say I won't ever do that again."

He smiled softly. "And I'll trust you from now on." No matter how much tenseness it still caused him to put faith into someone, because doing so would make him more vulnerable. But he realized now, Kohaku had made him realize, that he couldn't go on building that wall around his emotions. If he wouldn't stop doing so, the person who'd eventually destroy him would be he himself.

"We gotta go to the library in a few minutes."

"Hm. I didn't drown in the pool, so the promise still stands. Any idea yet what I should read to you?"

"Anything not romantic. I've never even learned to read well, so how would I know any books?" Kohaku growled.

"Horror, maybe? As long as it isn't situated on a ship," Lucille suggested.

"Yeah, that'd be fun," Kohaku actually sounded a little enthusiastic. "But… can we sit somewhere a bit in privacy then? I mean, it's not that I feel embarrassed, but…"

"I understand," Lucille interrupted him. If it were the other way around, neither he would want an entire ship's personnel and guests to know he couldn't read books. Normally, people only went on trips like this if they weren't poor, otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford it. And people who had money, were usually schooled. Not being able to read would show that someone had been poor, at least as a child. Not only would that be a bad thing for their cover, but it wouldn't do Kohaku's ego too much good either.

"You know… of all girlfriends I've ever had, you're the only one I truly love. The other's never knew about me not having gone to school. Hell, they didn't know a thing about me."

Lucille couldn't help but to chuckle. "And I'm not even a girl."

"Well, at least I love you. And besides, I wouldn't really call you a guy either."

"You…" With a giggle, Lucille pulled at Kohaku's short black hair. "That's mean."

"Babe, I am mean," Kohaku grinned, meanwhile ducking to avoid the pillow that Lucille swung at his head. "Okay, Okay. I'll shut up. We gotta go anyway."

A bit reluctantly, Lucille got up from the bed and therefore out of Kohaku's arms. "Any idea where the library is, by the way?"

"Probably somewhere near the dining room and the pool."

"Geez, that's specific."

Kohaku just growled something, while they walked through the hallway. "Still a stomachache?" he then asked suddenly.

"Eh? Well, yes a little. How did you know," Lucille asked surprised.

"You're usual not the kind of person to nag about having to walk through a few hallways."

"I wasn't complaining." After a short silence. "You really know me too well." That last line came out a bit amused.

After some minutes, they found the library, in a hallway next to the one with the dining room. "So, ready to read?" Kohaku chuckled, looking at the hundreds of books that were there.

Lucille grinned. "If you're ready to search for one with a story you like."

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**Next chapter will be here next week^^**


	20. Chapter 20

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**This chapter is probably going to be a little pointless, but I've been busy last week, and I didn't have time to write. But since I really want to update once each week, here's a new chapter^^**

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It took some minutes, but they finally found a book that seemed fun. "Horrible nightmares," Lucille read. "Sounds nice." Kohaku dragged him to the most faraway corner of the library, where no one else was sitting.

"Don't read to loud, or they'll know you're reading to me," the dark haired man hissed.

With a slightly annoyed sigh, Lucille sat down, with his back leaning against the wall. Okay, it was understandable that Kohaku felt embarrassed about bad at reading, but he shouldn't feel that bad about it. "You can barely read, I can barely swim. Doesn't that make us even?" he whispered, while Kohaku sat down next to him. He hoped his friend wouldn't get angry about that remark, but he felt like it was the truth. Okay, not being able to swim didn't make you seem poor, while not being able to read did. But to him it seemed equally embarrassing.

"I guess you're right," Kohaku admitted quietly, his gaze directed at the floor instead of at Lucille. "But I just feel…" He stopped in the middle of that sentence, like he didn't know how to go on. Or maybe he just didn't want to say such a thing out loud.

Though Lucille was pretty sure he knew what Kohaku meant, he wanted the man to tell him. "You feel… what?" he asked carefully.

"Like I'm worth less that you, or most people here," Kohaku admitted, barely audible.

To his surprise, the blonde felt his throat tightening a bit. To hear the dark-haired man say something like that, it just felt so wrong. So not like him. "Money doesn't mean anything. And besides, I have never been rich, my parents were. Since I've left, I'm on the exact same level as you." Slowly, tenderly, he kissed his friend on his cheek. "Most importantly, to me you're worth more than anyone in the world." While he said it, he felt with all his heart that he was speaking the truth.

"Thanks. Same here," Kohaku replied, a faint smile on his face.

"So, shall I start reading now?"

"Okay."

Softly, Lucille started to read. It felt a little awkward at first, but after a while, when the story started to get interesting, it almost went automatically. After almost fifteen minutes, Lucille felt Kohaku's head dropping onto his shoulder. A bit worried he looked up. "You still awake?"

"Yeah. Read on," Kohaku replied softly, moving a bit so Lucille's hair didn't trapped underneath his cheek.

Blushing a bit, the slender singer started reading again, glancing at Kohaku every few minutes. The dark-haired man had closed his eyes, but Lucille could sense that he was still listening to the story. Suddenly, Kohaku kissed him on his neck, earning a soft gasp from Lucille. "Wha… ah…"

"You're so warm," Kohaku whispered in his ear. "I just had to kiss you, sorry."

"Not that it didn't feel good. But please, not in public," Lucille whispered back, trying to get his heart to slow back down. Kohaku just smiled quite devilishly. "Hey, do you want me to read the rest of that book or not?"

"Okay, okay. I'll quit," the dark-haired man chuckled. "But you're a damn cute moron."

"Am I suppose to take that as a compliment?"

"Yes. Now read on. Please?"

Lucille sighed theatrically. "Sure." After another few hours of reading, he finally read the ending. "That was it." He looked at the clock. "Just in time for dinner."

"Hm." Kohaku yawned. "Nice book."

"Indeed." Slowly, Lucille sat up, forcing Kohaku to lift his head off the singer's thin shoulder. In silence, they returned the book and then went to the dining-room. There were already people there, Lucille hadn't even noticed half of the passengers had already left the library, but the spot in the more faraway corner was still free, as usual.

"A buffet again," Kohaku pointed. While walking to the corner, Lucille looked at the big table with the buffet on it. Mostly vegetables and big pieces of meat. Hidden behind some other plates, he even spotted those horrible shrimps again. No way that he was going to eat those voluntarily. But there were also some plates with sandwiches, probably meant as appetizer. With a sigh, he sat down, not feeling hungry at all.

"Shall I go get food again?" Kohaku offered.

"Okay. Just not too much for me, please," Lucille groaned.

"Did that fever from this morning already went down?"

"Don't know, don't care."

Kohaku grumbled. "Moron." Without any other comments, he turned around and walked towards the buffet.

With another deep sigh, Lucille leaned his elbows on the table. Reading half the day had made him feel rather sleepy, which also didn't do his appetite much good. In fact, he'd rather just skipped dinner and went right to the desert, and then directly to bed. Well, that wouldn't be possible anyway. He didn't want to miss watching the sunset with Kohaku, and they had to go into that hidden room tonight. The dance was tomorrow-evening already, which only left them this night to find a way to break the control the captain had over the guignols, and thereby save themselves and all the other passengers. He had the feeling that it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Here you go," Kohaku's voice startled him away from his thoughts. "I got you a piece of chicken and some fries. Like a children's menu, I thought that would fit you."

"Very funny," Lucille mumbled, but couldn't help but to smile a little. In fact, he did like chicken and fries. Besides, Kohaku had gotten the exact same thing for himself, only more.

"I'll go get something to drink too."

"Nothing with alcohol, please." Right now, that would only give him a headache.

"There's also milk or water."

"Milk, please."

A moment later, Kohaku was back with two glasses of milk.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you'd be a great waiter?" Lucille chuckled.

"Not without getting killed," Kohaku grumbled. "I guess you're the first at that."

Lucille smiled, and then slowly started eating. Halfway through, he started to feel a bit sick, so he shove his plate away a bit, folded his arms on the table and laid down his head on top of it.

"You okay?" Kohaku asked worriedly.

"Hm. Not hungry. Tired," Lucille groaned, before closing his eyes. "Wanna sleep for a while."

"Here?"

"Don't wanna miss the sundown," the small blonde mumbled. "Just need… an hour or so."

He heard Kohaku sigh, and then some sounds like a pig eating. "Okay, I'm done. Let's go back to our room, so you can sleep."

Surprised, Lucille looked up, and saw that Kohaku's plate was nearly empty. "How…"

"I can eat pretty fast," Kohaku grumbled, grabbing Lucille's arm and pulling him out of the dining room. "Walk on, people are watching."

Lucille couldn't help but to chuckle at Kohaku's embarrassed face, but did try to walk as fast as he could. As soon as they reached the hallway and the doors closed behind them, he let out a long yawn and leaned against his friend. "Mmh…"

"You okay?"

"Yeah," the blonde sighed. "Let's hurry before I fall asleep while walking."

Kohaku sighed a bit annoyed and practically dragged him through the hallways to their room. Once in there, Lucille got pushed onto the bed carefully. "Go to sleep, moron. I'll wake you at sunset, okay?"

"Mmh… okay," the blonde mumbled, letting his eyes slide shut. Faintly, he felt Kohaku sitting down on the bed and starting to caress his hair. Then he let out a deep sigh and drifted off to sleep.

"Oi, moron!" Lucille groaned softly when he felt someone calling him. A rough shake at his shoulder finally made him open his eyes and look at the person who woke him. "Lucille?"

"What?" He still felt sleepy, making him a bit irritated.

"Wanna see the sunset or not?" Kohaku growled. "Geez."

"Eh?" Finally his memory seemed to start working, and he quickly sat up. "Ah, I forgot. It's already that late?"

"You slept for nearly three hours. Not that long, but if we don't go try to get on the deck now, we'll be too late," his friend told him, pulling him to his feet. "Come on."

In silence, they walked through the hallways, Lucille following Kohaku, until they reached the entrance hall, from where they had entered the ship on the first day. It was completely deserted now, which was a good thing. The door was, unsurprisingly, locked now, but Lucille remembered there was a small railing outside, with a ladder to the deck. "Can you pick the lock?"

"Duh," Kohaku responded dryly, taking a small piece of metal out of his pocket. A hairpin.

"You stole that from me?"

"Eh… yeah," Kohaku admitted. "But you're the one who wants to see the sunset, so don't complain!"

Lucille grinned. "Okay."

Quickly, Kohaku had the door opened, and in silence they walked outside, softly closing the door behind them. Lucille felt his stomach twist at the sight of only water all around them. The sky was clear, already starting to darken, which made the ocean look even more deep and scary to him. Suddenly, he felt Kohaku grabbing his hand. "It's only water, don't look so scared. You climb the ladder first, okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Lucille nodded. The idea of climbing above the ocean almost made him want to go back inside, but watching the sunset with Kohaku wasn't something he wanted to miss. So he carefully walked to the ladder and started to climb, being followed by Kohaku. Well, if he'd be stupid enough to fall, then at least his friend would catch him. After what felt like ages, they finally reached the ship's deck. And luckily, it was empty.

"Let's go to the front, maybe we can hide there," Kohaku pointed. Lucille nodded, and together they ran to the front of the deck. There was a small edge there, where the deck suddenly was a lot lower. Big enough to sit down in without being seen by anyone in the wheel-house.

It was quite chilly outside, though. "Can we sit a bit closer to each other?" Lucille asked, a bit unsure.

"Whatever." Without looking at him, Kohaku shifted a bit, sitting shoulder against shoulder with the small blonde. To Lucille's surprise, the dark haired man suddenly placed his arm around his shoulders, pulling him even closer. "This better?" he asked, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"A lot better," Lucille mumbled shyly, and slowly leaned his head against Kohaku's shoulder. In silence, they sat there and watched the sunset. Somehow, it was even more beautiful than when he had been a kid. But then again, that might be because of the person sitting next to him, who was currently placing a trail of soft kisses on his neck, ending with a long kiss onto kiss onto his lips. Which was something he hadn't been expecting from Kohaku, but he certainly didn't feel like complaining.

Instead, he just wrapped his arms around Kohaku's chest and returned the kiss. "Mmh… Sorry, couldn't stop," Kohaku mumbled. "You just look so beautiful in this shade of light."

Though he'd heard that more often, it somehow meant so much more when Kohaku said it. "T-thanks," he whispered, feeling his cheeks heat up. "It… felt really good, by the way." Unsure of what to do, he averted his gaze towards the sunset again, waiting for his friend to make the next move.

Softly, Kohaku wrapped his arms around Lucille's small shoulders, pulling him tightly against his chest. "Lucille… After we get out of here, and whenever we get the chance… Can I… Can we…"

"What?" Lucille asked unsure, when Kohaku didn't go on.

The dark-haired man actually blushed. "Well… can we… get a complete couple?"

For a moment, Lucille thought about it, but couldn't figure it out. "Could you be a little more precise?"

"You know…" Kohaku growled. "Take our relationship to the next level, go further than just kiss…"

Lucille stared at him for a moment, briefly wondering how two men were supposed to… Geez. But it seemed to be important to Kohaku, and he didn't dislike the idea himself either. "Okay. Let's make that a promise."

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**Guess I spoiled a bit of what's going to happen further on… XD But trust me, it's going to be a long time before we get to that point in their relationship. Since I've finally figured out how I'm gonna end this fic… Well, I realized I'm gonna have to do a sequel, because there are certain things I just hate to end a story with (would feel guilty forever). I'm not gonna tell what, because that would spoil it ;)**

**Anyway, I'll update somewhere around next weekend^^**


	21. Chapter 21

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

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The sunset seemed to last forever that evening, Lucille feeling safe and almost happy in Kohaku's strong arms. Still, they had to keep in mind that this trip wasn't for fun, and they had something important to do tonight. Right now, however, Lucille didn't even want to think about that. Right now, he just wanted to watch the sun going down, listening to Kohaku's soft breathing, and feeling the fresh wind on his face. His hair got blown into his face a bit, making him struggle a bit to free himself.

"You know, I can tie it up for you. Might be more safe if we're going to break in tonight, especially since we have no idea if there are people or guignols behind that hidden door."

"Hm, indeed," Lucille sighed. "Well, you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't pull too hard at it." His hair wasn't something he'd just let anyone touch, but he knew Kohaku would be careful with it.

Softly, Kohaku placed his arms a bit tighter around Lucille. "It's almost dark."

"Just a few more minutes, please?" the blonde asked. They'd have to go back soon, but he still wanted to enjoy this moment for as long as he could. Quietly, he leaned his head back a bit and sighed deeply. "You're so nice to lean against."

He felt more than heard Kohaku chuckle. "Well, thanks."

It was really getting cold outside now, and with a sigh Lucille had to force himself to get out of Kohaku's embrace. "Tonight in bed, you're gonna hold me just like that again."

"Do I get a choice in that?" Kohaku chuckled. "Not that I'm complaining."

With a fake glare, Lucille stood up and started walking away. "You coming?"

"Duh." Together, they managed to sneak back in and get back to their room without being noticed. In there, Lucille let himself drop down on the bed, dragging Kohaku with him. "Oi, watch out!" Accidentally, the dark-haired mane landed fully on top of the slender singer, catching himself on his elbows just in time. Their faces only inches apart, they stared at each other for a moment. Then, suddenly, Lucille let his eyes slid shut and smiled softly.

"Oi, moron!" Kohaku grumbled, a bit worriedly. "You okay?"

"Hm…" The blonde sighed deeply, Kohaku feeling the small chest moving against his own. "Just enjoying the moment." He looked beautiful, even more than usual, with his pale face so relaxed, a faint blush still on his cheeks from the cold wind outside, and his long thick eyelashes almost touching his cheeks. The snowy blond hair laid sprawled around his face, curling gracefully against his face and shoulders. And somehow, lying underneath Kohaku's bigger and physically stronger body, but still being completely relaxed, made him even more breathtaking.

Okay, the blonde merely had to open his mouth and sing to kill him, but he still looked beautifully vulnerable right now. And it made Kohaku feeling completely clueless about what he should do now.

"Either kiss me now, or get off me," Lucille whispered, his eyes still closed.

That was an easy choice to make, at least to Kohaku it was. Gently, he pressed his lips against Lucille's, feeling the slender body underneath him going limp for a moment. After a short moment, Lucille threw his arms around Kohaku's chest, pulling him even closer and deepening the kiss. A stifled gasp escaped Kohaku when he felt Lucille's tongue inside his mouth, and them felt himself returning that movement automatically. He had already known the singer tasted sweet and fresh, but kissing like this, the sensation was almost overwhelming.

A faint sound reached his ears. Lucille was moaning almost inaudibly, his cheeks having turned into a deep shade of red. His arms slowly slid off Kohaku's back, dropping down at the bed with a soft thump. Despite how much he wanted this moment to last forever, Kohaku realized the blonde still had a fever, which probably had gone worse after sitting outside in the chilly weather. Reluctantly, he forced himself to pull back and break their kiss.

"L-Lucille? You okay?" The singer just laid there, and Kohaku could feel him breathing deep and quick. Resisting the urge to kiss him again, he gently placed a hand on the blonde's cheek, feeling how warm he was. "Oi, Lucille!"

"Hm…" A faint smile appeared on the smaller man's lips. "That… was…" With a shallow sigh, he opened his eyes a bit. The crystal-like blue was sparkling and seemed more deep and clear than ever before. "That was probably the most amazing feeling I've ever had. Thanks." His eyes closed again. "It's still too early to break into that room. H-hold me for a while, please?"

"I'd be glad to," Kohaku mumbled, carefully moving a bit until he was laying next to the blonde, and then pulled him on top of his chest. Though they had practically switched positions now, Lucille somehow still was the one seeming vulnerable, his heart beating gently against Kohaku's chest, and his head hanging over the taller man's shoulder, leaving it resting against Kohaku's neck. He had the feeling the blonde wouldn't dislike Kohaku lying on top of him, but the dark-haired man just didn't dare to take the risk right now, remembering how that had worsened Lucille's stomachache last time. Better not try that again until they'd get off this ship.

Wrapped in Kohaku's arms, being pressed against the dark-haired man's warm body, Lucille felt himself getting sleepy. The taste of their kiss was still lingering on his lips, keeping the blush on his cheeks, and his heart was pounding from excitement. At the same time, though, he felt so tired that he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep for some hours, until all the ship's employees would have retired to their rooms for the night. But wouldn't Kohaku mind?

Like he had been reading the singer's thoughts, Kohaku suddenly mumbled something. "You can sleep, if you want to. I'll be right here."

"I love you," Lucille whispered, snuggling against his beloved one before relaxing again. Far away, he heard Kohaku telling him he also loved the singer, then he drifted off to sleep.

Kohaku had been a bit afraid of falling asleep and missing their last chance to find something to defeat the guignols on this ship and their master. But having Lucille sleeping like this, his soft breaths against the taller man's neck, that slender body resting on top of him, feeling every unconscious move Lucille made, that made it impossible for him to fall asleep. Simply because he didn't want to miss a moment of it, knowing he was the only one that was this close to the singer.

"I really love you, moron," he mumbled, softly hugging him. "Geez, unbelievable." A few days ago, it would have seemed impossible to him to ever be this intimate with the blonde. And it still somehow felt like a dream, even though he'd never tell Lucille that. Either way, he wasn't at all unhappy about their relationship, and how it was developing.

Lucille groaned softly in his sleep, moving a little until he was comfortable again. Tenderly, Kohaku caressed the singer's back, earning a content little sigh from him. Since the singer obviously didn't mind the touch at all, Kohaku gently traced the smooth curve of Lucille's back with his fingertips, stopping at the edge of his shirt. After a short moment of doubt, he slid his hand underneath the shirt, touching the soft skin underneath.

The singer groaned again, stretching his back a bit. Immediately, Kohaku froze, hoping that the blonde wouldn't wake up. After what had to be some of the longest moments of his life, he felt Lucille relaxing again. Still, better to be happy with keeping one hand on Lucille's bare skin and the other one softly stroking the blonde's hair. If he'd go any further, Lucille would surely wake up, and this position would be kind of hard to explain without sounding like he had some rather wrong purposes.

Nearly four hours later, just when Kohaku had started wondering if he should wake him, Lucille woke up by himself. Sleepily, he stared up at Kohaku's somewhat startled face. "What's your hand doing under my shirt? It's cold."

"Eh… I was… well…" Kohaku stammered, making Lucille grin a bit.

"Hey other than it being cold, I don't really mind," he reassured his friend. "You allowed me to use you as a bed, so I guess you should be allowed to hold me like you want."

"Eh… okay… I guess." The dark-haired man actually blushed a little, only causing Lucille's grin to widen. "W-we should get to work. You take the knife, I'll take my gun."

"Whatever you want," Lucille chuckled, before slowly sitting up to free Kohaku from underneath him. He still felt rather tired, but the long nap had helped a bit.

A few minutes later, they had reached the wall with the hidden door, luckily without having been seen by any sailor-girls. Carefully, Lucille held the guignol-piece against the strange marking on the wall. "Ouch." He couldn't stop a soft groan when he felt something like electricity coming from it, making his hand a bit sore.

"You okay?" Kohaku hissed.

"Yeah," Lucille whispered. In front of them, the door quietly slid open, disappearing in the wall. Behind it, there was a small room with only a desk and some monitors. "That's the hall where the dance is going to be tomorrow," Lucille remarked.

"Meaning we're gonna have to hurry," Kohaku replied, quickly searching through the desk. In one of the drawers, a small box was hidden. "What's this?" The lock was easy to get opened, and inside the box were multiple glass beads lying next to each other, rather large and in a strange color of red. One was missing, the captain probably had it.

"Looks like we've found what we're looking for," Lucille whispered. "We should be able to control the guignols with this."

"Yeah, but where are they?"

"We don't have the time or luxury to go search, but I'm pretty sure we'll find them at the dance," Lucille said softly, taking one of the beads out. "Let's hope they won't notice this one missing before the dance."

"Well, if we won't get caught, they'll have no reason to think we stole it. So let's go!" After putting the box back where he had found it, Kohaku dragged him through the hallways, back to their room. Looking behind for a moment, Lucille saw the door sliding shut again, like it knew the room was unoccupied again. Hopefully, there weren't any devices at work to check who went in there, otherwise they'd have a big problem.

With a soft click, Lucille closed the door of their room behind them. "Now we just have to hide it until the dance. Same place as the guignol-piece?"

"No, if they find it, we're doomed. Just keep it in your pocket," Kohaku suggested.

"Okay," Lucille agreed after some thinking. "If they'd lose this thing, then they and every other passenger would get turned into a guignol. If they'd get caught with it, they'd have to fight, but at least they'd have a chance if the guignols happened to be anywhere near.

"Lucille?"

"Hm?"

"Can I hold you while we sleep?" Kohaku stared at the floor, refusing to look at him while making that request.

"Sure," Lucille answered with a soft smile. "That'd be great."

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**Yay, they did something useful for their assignment! They only have one day left on the ship, but knowing myself that could be either one chapter or five… It also depends on where I'm going to end this and start the sequel, but either way, there'll be at least two more chapters ;)**

**I'll update in a week^^**


	22. Chapter 22

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**Sorry to people who reviewed/sent me a message… I couldn't reply because my internet is half-dead, so I can't get online for more than 2 minutes to update, and then it just stops working… It'll be fixed soon, though (I hope)**

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Though the room was pretty cold at night, Lucille felt nice and warm in Kohaku's warm arms. He didn't know if the dark-haired man was still awake, they had been lying in bed for some minutes now. But he felt too cozy, with his head resting against Kohaku's collarbone, to look up to see his face. With a deep sigh, he snuggled even closer against him. Kohaku tightened his grip a bit, so he probably was still awake.

"You cold?" he heard the dark-haired man mumble.

"No." Another deep sigh. "You're just… really warm. It's nice."

"Mmh… You're warm too, and soft," Kohaku mumbled, apparently half asleep already. After yawning softly, he buried his face in Lucille's soft hair and sighed. "And you smell… really nice." His breath got deep and regular, letting Lucille know he had fallen asleep. Smiling softly, the small blonde closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep only a few minutes later.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, he somehow woke up again, vaguely remembering having some kind of nightmare. There had been hard noises, like gunshots, though that was all he could remember. It had left him with a nauseous feeling, though. That, and a completely unreasonable fear to fall back to sleep and keep sleeping forever. Breathing in short tense gasps, he hid his face against Kohaku's throat. The dark-haired man was still sleeping calmly, only stirring a bit when Lucille cuddled closer against him. "N-ngg…" Why was he always the one having the nightmares? And why did they always terrify him so badly?

Kohaku stirred again, and this time Lucille felt him tightening his embrace. "Mmh… You okay?" He sounded half-asleep.

"Yeah," Lucille mumbled, not wanting to keep his friend awake for longer than necessary. "I… I had a bad dream, but I'm fine now."

"Really?"

"Really. Go back to sleep now." Tenderly, Lucille started caressing Kohaku's back, and kissed his throat. Within moments, he could feel his friend falling asleep again. Exhaustedly, he let closed his eyes again and tried to relax. The bad feeling in his stomach didn't disappear, but he was starting to feel more comfortable now, concentrating on the warmth of Kohaku's body. Somehow, it made him feel more safe than usual, after having a nightmare. To feel Kohaku so close to him, to feel so sure that the other man would always be here to make him feel safe.

Though it took a couple of minutes, Lucille did manage to drift off to sleep again. Even the nightmare didn't come back, which he was grateful for.

Unsurprisingly, Kohaku woke up earlier than the blonde, the next morning. Vaguely remembering Lucille being awake in the middle of the night, he looked at the slender singer, who was lying silently in his arms. Well, he seemed calm enough now, his mouth slightly opened and breathing softly against Kohaku's neck. His long hair was spread over the bed-sheets behind him, making him look like a sleeping angel. His cheeks were a little bit pale, though, indicating that he hadn't slept that well.

"Oi, Lucille," he whispered softly. No response, as to be expected. Well, then he'd just have to take more drastic actions. Carefully, he leaned over the singer and softly placed a kiss on his cheek. Lucille sighed, but didn't wake up. When Kohaku kissed his lips, though, he finally opened his eyes and kissed him back.

"Mmh… Good morning," he mumbled, when they broke their kiss after some moments.

"Good morning," Kohaku replied, smiling at him. "Shall we go for breakfast?"

Lucille nodded quietly. "I'm still not hungry, but we'd better be at our strongest this evening." With a soft yawn, he threw his arms around Kohaku's neck. "Tell me, do you look sexy in a nice suit?"

"Eh?"

"The dance. We have to wear formal clothing, remember?" Lucille grinned, before placing a soft kiss on Kohaku's throat. "You should look like some hot spy."

"Geez, what's gotten into you?" Kohaku growled, seemingly a bit shy.

"Hmm… don't know," the blonde mumbled, and then sighed. "I just want to be… with you. Maybe it's that nightmare I had." Slowly, he let go of his friend and stepped out of bed. "Never mind, let's hurry."

"Ah, sure." Kohaku looked at him a bit strangely, but didn't make any comment. About fifteen minutes later, they were eating breakfast. Kohaku's plate was full of eggs and bread, Lucille only ate one sandwich with chocolate-spread. "You call that breakfast?"

"There's also lunch and dinner, Lucille defended himself. "I never eat much in the mornings to begin with, you know?"

Kohaku had to admit he hadn't noticed, but decided not to say that. Instead, he gave Lucille one of the eggs from his own plate. "Eat that, at least you'll have something in your stomach that can be considered food."

"Do I have to?" Lucille whined like a child.

"I could also just shove it down your throat," Kohaku hissed, when he was sure no one else but the singer could hear it.

"Tch, yes mommy," Lucille grumbled, reluctantly starting to eat the egg. Kohaku almost felt guilty when he watched how much trouble it took the blonde to force himself to swallow each bite. But he they both knew things would get dangerous this evening, no doubt about that. So they had to be as strong as possible, not half-starved. Besides, due to the fact he had been Holding the singer so often these past few days, he had actually felt how thin Lucille was getting. And it actually worried him.

Okay, he would try to push Lucille away again, just to protect himself. But the blonde just seemed so damn… mortal sometimes. Neither of them was invincible, and he realized that, but Lucille was so small and thin, so beautiful, and those big crystal-blue eyes made him look so breathtakingly innocent. Even though he knew all about the man's dark past, and the fact that he was undoubtedly able to kill nearly anyone, Kohaku still felt the urge to protect him from any sort of danger.

Well, maybe that was part of this "love" thing. He had to admit he'd never truly loved anyone before. The singer was the first, so every new emotion love brought, was completely new to him. "Lucille?" he asked softly.

"Hm?"

"Sorry for forcing you to eat, but… I just don't want to risk you being weak in any way this evening. I don't want you to get hurt."

Lucille smiled at him, looking a bit surprised. "I know that. And if I'd really didn't want to eat, no one would be able to force me to do so. But if you ask me to, I will."

"Is… that also what love is about?"

"Eh?"

Now, he really felt like an idiot, and he felt his cheeks heating up. Staring at the table, he grumbled; "Well, I've never really loved anyone before. So how am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to feel?"

Obviously stifling a chuckle, Lucille reached over the table and took his hand. "You're not 'supposed' to feel anything, it's not like there are rules or anything. Whatever you feel, it's fine. And you can always be sure of one thing. That I love you too."

For some reason, that made him feel a whole lot better. "Eh… thanks," he mumbled.

Lucille just smiled softly and finished eating the egg. "So, what are we gonna do until the dance?"

"The pool is open, as well as the library," Kohaku replied, glad about the change of subject. "And the gym. But I'll only agree on going there if you're absolutely sure that you're all right. We shouldn't get a repeat of last time." It had scared him like Hell when Lucille had suddenly fainted.

"Hm, that wouldn't be good indeed," Lucille nodded. "But I'm feeling better now, and we won't have to be so competitive when we just play with each other, right?"

"So, you want to do badminton again?"

"If you don't mind."

"You know I suck at it?"

Lucille grinned. "That's part of what makes it fun to me."

"Geez…" Kohaku couldn't help but to smile. "Whatever you'd like, but you're wearing one of those sports-skirts again."

"Deal," Lucille chuckled.

Half an hour later, they both stood on different sides of a net. Just like the last time, Lucille ran around the field, while Kohaku could barely hit that damn bat. "Oi, don't overexert yourself again!"

"I won't," Lucille replied, panting. There was sweat on his face, but he kept running and jumping to hit back Kohaku's pathetic attempts at hitting the bat in the right direction. Like some puppy that didn't know when to stop playing. When Kohaku spotted the blonde trembling for a moment, he decided to quit it.

"You need a pause."

"Hm…" Lucille sighed, catching the bat with his hands. "Maybe you're right." With a soft 'thump' he dropped onto his knees and sat down from that position. "Care to join me?"

"Duh," Kohaku grumbled, walking over to the singer and sitting down across the singer. "How's the seasickness?"

"A lot better," Lucille replied softly. "I guess the storm has laid down completely now. The stomachache is almost gone too."

"You look tired, though. And a bit pale," Kohaku mumbled, staring at the singer's beautiful face. "Gotta do something about that." Slowly, he leaned forward and threw his arms around his friend's slender shoulders. For a moment, he just looked into Lucille's big eyes, that were looking back at him in surprise. "Come here." When Lucille leaned forward to, Kohaku gently placed his lips onto the singer's, giving him a deep, long kiss.

"Ah… you're a great kisser, you know?" Lucille mumbled, his eyes sparkling and a slight blush on his cheeks.

Kohaku smiled at him. "Good enough to make you less pale, at least."

"Hm," Lucille sighed, leaning into Kohaku for a moment. "Either way, shall we go do something else now? I mean, there are more sports to do here. And last time I passed out before we could do anything else than badminton."

"Okay, fine with me."

"Then…" Lucille looked around the gym. "There are some gymnastic-tools over there, by that wall. Wanna do that?"

"Whatever," Kohaku replied. "Just be careful not to break anything."

"What, you wouldn't be able to pay for it?" Lucille grinned.

"I was talking about your bones, you moron!"

Lucille's grin widened, and he quickly stood up and ran towards the gymnastic-tools. Kohaku follow at a normal speed, and watched how Lucille manage to jump directly onto the trampoline and perform a summersault, landing gracefully on his feet. "Kohaku? Can you do that too?"

"Tch, why would I do that now?" Kohaku growled.

"For fun!" Lucille chuckled. "Or is it just that you can't do it? Hm?"

That damned bastard. "I can! I just don't… feel like it, at the moment," Kohaku defended himself.

"Oh, really?"

"Wha… You bastard!" Kohaku yelled, jumping onto the trampoline, nearly making Lucille fall off. Before the singer could respond, the dark-haired man pressed him against his body and jumped, throwing Lucille upwards at the highest point. The singer gave a stifled scream, while Kohaku landed and caught him. "That's called revenge."

Lucille just stared at him for a moment. "You… are the devil." Kohaku grinned at him, before softly kissing his lips. "Geez…" Lucille chuckled. "Can we go do something nice and peaceful now? Not involving me being sent flying?"

"Any suggestions?" Kohaku asked, while stepping off the trampoline and placing Lucille carefully back onto his feet. "We only have an hour left before lunch."

"Back to our room for a while?"

"And do what?"

"Don't know yet. We'll see when we get there."

When they got there, they still didn't have any idea. So Lucille just let himself drop down onto the bed, dragging Kohaku down with him. With a startled gasp, the dark-haired man dropped down on top of him, their faces nearly hitting each other. "Moron!" he chuckled. "You trying to kill me?"

"Weren't you the guy who threw me in the air a few minutes ago?"

"Okay, so I guess we're even." After kissing the singer gently, Kohaku rolled off him, leaving them lying next to each other. "But you're still a moron."

"Tch…" Before the dark-haired man could respond, Lucille grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. He immediately got it thrown back into his face, followed by his wrists being pushed onto the bed and the pillow being pushed away by Kohaku to be able to kiss him again. "Nng…" Moaning softly, the singer closed his eyes. That indication of surrendering almost broke Kohaku's self-control, but he managed to force himself to pull back instead of moving further.

"When we get off this ship…" Kohaku mumbled, looking at the beautiful singer lying underneath him.

"Oh, yeah," Lucille nodded, looking back at him with half-lidded, crystal-blue eyes, and a nearly unnoticeable smile on his face. "But for now…" Softly, he made Kohaku release his wrists. "Let's go to lunch."

"Eh?" It took Kohaku's mind a moment to switch. "Ah, oh yeah, lunch. Forgot about the existence of that."

"I tend to have that effect on people," Lucille grinned. "But your stomach is starting to make funny noises."

Quickly, Kohaku stood up, pulling the singer along. "Let's go then, before I accidentally eat you."

"Careful," Lucille grinned, and suddenly gave Kohaku a small nibble at his neck. "I bite." His grin widened when Kohaku's cheeks turned slightly red. Instead of responding, Kohaku just turned around and walked out of the room, but not before he had gently grabbed hold of Lucille's hand. "K-Kohaku?" Had he made him angry?

"Moron," Kohaku chuckled. "Don't do that before we have to go somewhere. It… feels a bit too good."

"Ah…" The blonde felt a happy smile taking over his face. "I understand."

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**Next chapter will be here soon^^**


	23. Chapter 23

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**Yay! My internet got fixed! So from now on I'll be able to respond to reviews again ;)**

* * *

Lunch was served as a buffet again, but this time with a lot of cakes and other sweet stuff. Well, even though Kohaku didn't care that much for sweet things, this would at least mean that he could get Lucille to eat something more than he had done the rest of this week. "We're early, so let's go to the buffet together," he suggested. "Maybe you'll eat more if you've picked it yourself."

"Okay," Lucille agreed, following slowly. Without any enthusiasm, he took the plate Kohaku gave him, and together they walked around the buffet. There was a lot to choose from, and Kohaku had a full plate at the end. Looking at Lucille, he saw that the singer only had one chocolate-muffin and two donuts with fruit-sprinkles. Yeah, like that counted as a meal.

"Look, either you eat like a normal person now, or you will during dinner," he hissed, so no one else would hear. Lucille only shot him a weak glare. "Think about this way; either you can stuff yourself with this sweet crap now, or I might have to force-feed you those giant shrimps tonight."

"How would you know whether they'll have those at dinner again?" Lucille argued.

"You sure you're willing to take the risk?"

After a short silence, Lucille sighed and took a piece of banana-pie and two apple-cupcakes. "Happy now?"

"Well, okay." Walking to the coffee-machine, he slipped an extra cupcake on the blonde's plate while he wasn't watching. "Want coffee too?"

"Eh…" Lucille seemed to consider it for a moment, while Kohaku waited impatiently. "I'd rather have chocolate-milk."

"Sure." Well, then they might as well both take that. They'd already get to much sugar in their systems anyway.

Their usual table in the most deserted corner of the room was still available, so they silently walked there and sat down. Within a few minutes, Kohaku was already finished and went for another plate. Lucille had spend those past minutes on eating his cupcakes, and was now starting on the banana-pie. Geez, why did he have to eat so much? Okay, he appreciated Kohaku's concern, but that didn't mean his seasickness just disappeared.

"How does it taste?" Kohaku asked.

"Great," Lucille mumbled, slowly swallowing a bite. It did taste really good, he loved sweet food. "Just still seasick. But I guess we can't afford to be weak from hunger, this evening."

"Yeah," Kohaku agreed. "Not that you have seemed so strong past week."

"Well, my strength is my voice. And there's nothing wrong with my throat." The banana-pie was finished, and he reluctantly started on the first donut. "Mmh. Sweet."

Kohaku chuckled. "There's still banana-pie on your face."

"What? Where?"

"Right here." Slowly, Kohaku leaned over the table and licked it off the singer's cheek, then moved on to his lips and kissed him. "Mmh, sweet indeed."

Lucille just stared at him slightly breathless for a moment. "Ah… t-thanks," he mumbled, his cheeks turning slightly red. He couldn't help but to smile though. Especially at the very fact that Kohaku had done something so intimate in front of other people.

Kohaku smiled back at him, seemingly a bit shy. "Well, you just looked too cute not to touch you."

"Ah…" His smile widened. "That… that's really nice of you."

"Yeah, w-whatever. Just eat on!" Quickly, Kohaku started on his second plate, staring at the table. Still having that same smile on his face, Lucille finished his first donut and ate the second one slightly more enthusiastic. Only the chocolate-muffin left, but luckily, the inside was filled with chocolate-sauce, making it a lot more easy to eat. Definitely the most tasty thing that he had eaten so far. And also the thing his teeth were hating him the most for, probably.

"Since we're both done, let's go back to our room. I wanna go brush my teeth, they're full of chocolate-sauce." Which probably wasn't the most elegant look either, so he held his mouth tightly shut while walking after Kohaku, out of the dining-hall. Back in their room, after brushing his teeth, he walked to the bed and let himself drop down on in. "Mmh…"

"You're not feeling sick, are you?" Kohaku asked, sounding slightly worried.

"No, luckily," Lucille answered, turning onto his back. "Just a bit… I don't really know. Not really tired, just a bit listless, I guess."

Gently, Kohaku leaned over him and placed a hand on the singer's forehead. "No fever. Just the seasickness, maybe?"

"Yeah," Lucille nodded. "No headache, barely a stomachache, but it's still there."

"So, not a good idea on ever taking you on a vacation by boat?" Kohaku grinned.

"I don't have anything against small boats on lakes, as long as I'm outside and able to see the land." With a faint chuckle, he wrapped his arms around Kohaku's chest and pulled the taller man on top of him. "That could even be a bit romantic, don't you think?"

Kohaku glared at him, but it didn't seem real. After a moment, he sighed and kissed him tenderly, before asking; "Would you seriously like that?"

"Ah…" Slightly surprised, he looked at his friend. "Well, yeah," he admitted softly. "If it's with you, and you'll hold me…" He felt his cheeks heating up a bit. "Then I'd really like it."

"Then we'll do that. I don't know when, but whenever we get the chance, we'll do it," Kohaku promised.

"Eh?" His stomach was starting to hurt, so he rolled onto his side, Kohaku sliding off him, and they ended up both lying on their sides, facing each other. "Since when are you such a romantic guy?"

This time, Kohaku did give him a real glare, though it was only a small one. "Because you're an idiot. And so am I. And like I told you earlier, I've never loved someone before in the same way that I love you." A bit embarrassedly, so it seemed, he looked at a point at the wall behind Lucille. "And we both were stupid not to allow each other to feel anything, and to let so much time go to waste. I… I really us to be a real couple. After we're finally done with this damned assignment. You know, have those special moments with you. Like when we watched the sundown at the deck, last night. That… that felt really amazing."

"K-Kohaku…" For some reason, he actually felt like his throat was getting squeezed shut a little. "I…" He just couldn't think of anything to say, so he just hugged the Kohaku tightly and pushed his face against the other man's neck. "I love you. I really do."

"I love you too," Kohaku whispered in his ear. "More than I ever thought I could love anyone."

For some time, Lucille had no idea how long, they stayed like that, neither of them feeling the urge to move even a bit. Finally, still some hours left before dinner, Kohaku sat up, pulling Lucille along with him. "Shall we go do something? It might look suspicious if we're in our room all afternoon."

"Yeah," Lucille had to agree. "Library?"

"Sure."

Some minutes later, they were sitting in the library, which was nearly deserted at that moment. Only one other couple was reading books, so Kohaku found some horror-book and let Lucille read it to him. Without that many people around, it felt a lot less embarrassing to him, even though last time he'd ended up liking to be read a story. And Lucille, without doubt, didn't only have a voice that was good for singing. He was nice to listen to anyway.

And like last time, Kohaku couldn't resist the urge to rest his head on Lucille's small shoulder. The singer didn't stop reading, he just leaned his head against Kohaku. A faint smile was audible in his voice, though.

After a few hours, the book was finished and Lucille sighed. "Wanna read another one?"

"Nah. This one was pretty good, though. Lots of blood," Kohaku grinned. "But we only have less than an hour before dinner, so there's not enough time to finish another story."

"Hm. And after dinner, when we got dressed, you'll do my hair, right?"

"Yeah." He'd have to find a way to hide some guns in his suit through. And Lucille would have to wear a dress, easy enough to hide weapons in there, no way that it'd get noticed.

Another sigh, and then Lucille stood up, being followed by Kohaku. Together, almost shoulder to shoulder, they walked back to their room to wait until dinner time. And it might be a nice idea to discuss what they would do tonight, exactly.

"So, how are we gonna defeat them?" Kohaku asked.

"I guess we'll just use the glass bead to take over control, to stop them long enough. I can kill them with my voice then, as soon as we know where they are. And the human bad guys… well, I assume you'll be taking your guns to the dance?"

"Yup." So Lucille had the same idea. Nice. "You'll have to take a gun too, though. Just to be safe." Okay, the singer had his voice to protect himself with, but they could never be too careful, right?

"We should try to warn someone, though. Before the dance," the singer remarked.

"Everyone will be busy for the dance, after dinner. If we leave early, we can notify Eles and Gwin through the ship's radio. That is, if we can sneak into the captain's room again. If they contact the queen's army, they'll be at the ship soon enough to help. Or at least, to get this ship back to land."

"Yeah." Lucille looked out the small window, Kohaku following his gaze. Far away, there was a small streak of land already to be seen. It should take no longer than an hour, with marine ships, to get from there to here. "Kohaku?" That strange feeling he had after that nightmare from last night, was coming back, strangely enough.

"What?" Kohaku asked, apparently alarmed by his voice.

"Come here and hold me, please," the singer asked, lying down on the bed, on his side. Silently, Kohaku laid down beside him and hugged him tightly. Warm and feeling safe, so close the dark-haired man, he close his eyes and sighed. "Mmh, good way to reduce stress."

"How did you cope with that before?" Kohaku asked suddenly.

The question startled Lucille for a moment, unsure how to answer. "Well, I guess I just always ignored it." A short silence, like Kohaku knew there was more. "And, sometimes, I sneaked out of the car while you guys slept, and then just sat somewhere crying for a while."

Another short silence. "That… Geez, I never noticed. That's pretty sad." The hug tightened a bit more. "You're an idiot."

"I know." It wasn't like he never wanted to seek comfort by other people. He had just never thought of himself as worthy enough for such a thing. Now, he knew he had been dumb, but at the same time he couldn't help but to wonder whether he would actually have been capable to show weakness, even if he would have wanted to.

"Well, I'm glad you're trusting me now." Kohaku gave him a soft kiss on his forehead. "I'm really glad you do."

"Mmh…" Lucille smiled. "I'm glad too." It felt great to be able to share his problems with someone, and it was a relieve not to have to carry every burden by himself.

"You're cute," Kohaku mumbled, giving him another kiss. This time, right onto his lips. Lucille deepened the kiss immediately, enjoying the warm intimate feeling it gave him. Kohaku didn't seem to mind it either, closing his eyes and leaving Lucille in command of it. Neither of them pulled back until it became really necessary to breath.

Somewhere deep inside, he still had a somewhat stressed out feeling in his stomach. But at least he felt a lot better now, and too preoccupied to really care about it. Tenderly, he snuggled against Kohaku and felt how the other man started caressing his hair. After letting out a deep sigh, he nibbled at Kohaku's earlobe, just to show his appreciation. This time, his friend didn't walk away, instead he only hugged Lucille tighter.

"Mmh… Don't push it too far… or I won't be able to stop," Kohaku groaned, capturing Lucille's lips in another kiss to stop the nibbling. After a few moments, he pulled back and sat up. "We gotta go to dinner soon, you know."

"Yeah. I just needed to be so intimate for a moment," the singer admitted. "But you did like it, didn't you?"

With a grin on his face, Kohaku looked at him. "Wasn't that clear?"

"Just wanted to know for sure," Lucille smiled, also sitting up. "Anyway, let's go to dinner soon. Since we'll have more things to do before the dance."

Kohaku nodded and stood up, pulling the blonde along. Together, they walked to the dining room, and Lucille couldn't help but to softly hold the dark-haired man's hand. It felt nice, and since they were this early, it wasn't like anyone would see them. Besides, even if people would see them, that would only help them to keep up their cover, right? Though Kohaku would probably feel embarrassed.

"Another buffet. Geez, I guess they're out of original dining ideas," Kohaku commented, when they walked through the door.

Indeed, a buffet. This time with all kinds of fish and other seafood. Besides those shrimps, there was more than enough choice. Not that Lucille felt particularly hungry, but it could have been worse. Without too much enthusiasm, he followed Kohaku through the buffet, ending up with two pieces of raw salmon and some fish-chips. As usual, Kohaku's plate was completely stuffed with food. When they had got themselves some coffee, they headed towards their usual table.

"You should eat more," Kohaku commented quietly, while they both sat down.

"If you want me to get really seasick, then I should." Without looking at his friend, Lucille started eating. Okay, maybe he had been a bit unfriendly, especially since he knew that Kohaku was nothing more than worried about his health. But it was starting to get on his nerves, especially since he wasn't exactly relaxed to begin with. So for some minutes, they just ate in silence.

"You should know I'm not saying it to bug you," Kohaku finally mumbled. "I'm just concerned. If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't give a damn about how little you're eating. It's just…" Another short silence, in which they both kept staring at their plates. "I have a bad feeling about what's gonna happen."

That one remark made Lucille look up a bit shocked. "Me too. I've been having the same feeling since this morning."

A bit unsure, Kohaku looked back at him. "About… one of us getting hurt?"

"Y-yeah." Now he had really lost all of his appetite. "It… it's only nervousness, right?"

"Right. Probably," Kohaku replied. "It has to be. We'll be fine, no matter what happens."

Lucille just nodded, and they ate in silence for a moment. "Can we go now?" he mumbled, when Kohaku was done eating. His own plate was still almost as full as it had been when he started eating, but he didn't want it anymore, his stomach starting to protest against the stress.

"Okay." Gently, Kohaku took his hand and walked close to him while they got out of the dining room. In the hallway, Lucille couldn't help but to lean against the wall for a moment. "You okay?"

"As okay as I can be, until this is all over," the blonde sighed. "Shall we go now immediately?" That would give him something else to concentrate on, instead of all the possible dangers.

* * *

**I'll update soon^^**


	24. Chapter 24

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**Warning: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! *hides behind her laptop* I promise there'll be no character deaths! Only very serious injury, but nothing too graphical.**

* * *

In silence, they sneaked through the hallways to the control-room. Like expected no one was there, all staff probably being busy making preparations for later this evening. Lucille didn't mind at all, not exactly feeling like starting a fight at the moment. His stomach was hurting, and the fear of getting caught wasn't making it any better.

"Here's the radio," Kohaku hissed. "Wait a sec… Got it!" Getting the right frequency, he sent a coded message. Lucille tried to follow it a little, and noticed that the dark-haired man also asked for medical support. Well, the chance was big that people would get hurt, even if it weren't himself or Kohaku. Those were odds that the singer honestly didn't like at all, but there wasn't much he could do about it anyway. Except for trying to end this as soon as possible.

"Okay, done," Kohaku hissed, after getting a short reply. "They'll be here as soon as possible, so let's get back to our room fast!" Before Lucille could even reply, the dark-haired man practically dragged him out of the chamber. "Crap!" Footsteps were coming their way.

"Wha…" Again, before he could make any comment, Kohaku interrupted him, this time by lifting him of the floor and running away, around the nearest corner, and didn't stop running until they got back to their room.

Lucille still in his arms, Kohaku kicked the door shut behind them and dropped onto the bed. "W-was that necessary?" Lucille asked.

"Yes, or did you want to get caught?" Kohaku responded immediately. Lucille just sighed deeply and hugged him. A bit unsure, Kohaku embraced him. "Lucille? Something wrong?"

"Nah… Just wanted to hug you." Letting out another sigh, the singer pulled away and sat up. "Anyway, I'm gonna take a shower now, so if you take a shower after me, you can tie up my hair after that. Okay?"

"Okay." Kohaku couldn't help but to give him a soft kiss, though, before he allowed Lucille to get off the bed and into the bathroom.

Just when Lucille was finished with the soap, he heard the door opening quietly. "Hey, I'm in here!" he yelled shocked, turning around without thinking.

"I know," Kohaku replied with a soft chuckle. "I just thought, why not save time and shower together?" He didn't come closer, though.

After a rather awkward moment, Lucille realized that his friend was actually waiting for his approval before doing anything. "Eh, undress and feel free to join me, then," he mumbled shyly. Instead of starting to wash off the soap, he waited for Kohaku to get in the shower with him. He had to admit, it felt rather good to be standing almost against each other like this. Neither of them dared to do anything, given the fact that they were still on an important assignment, but still.

"Hm… next time we have some privacy…" he mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"You… really trust me enough to… you know," Kohaku asked, his cheeks just as red.

"I do," Lucille replied, looking at his friend with a soft but honest smile. "I definitely do."

Kohaku smiled back happily. "I'm really glad you do," he admitted. "I mean, I'm not exactly known as the most tender person."

"But in this week, I've seen a side of that's… not anything like how you usually act." Slowly, Lucille leaned against Kohaku's chest, and felt two warm, soapy arms being wrapped around his shoulders. "You're way more gently and caring than I ever thought you could be. And… though I never thought I'd ever love anyone that much again… I do love you. And I trust you completely."

For a moment, it kept quiet, but then Kohaku gave him a long, incredibly gentle kiss onto his lips. "Thanks for saying that. And I love you too, so much."

"Mmh." For some moments, the singer allowed himself to get lost in that kiss, but then he slowly stepped back. "We have to hurry. I'll dry off and get dressed already."

"Okay," Kohaku nodded. "I'll be done here in a minute."

A little time later, They both were fully dressed up, Lucille looking incredible in the gothic-style clothes. Now, the singer sat on the bed, his back turned towards Kohaku, while the dark-haired man carefully braided the long, snowy-blonde hair. "It so soft."

"I know," Lucille chuckled. "If I didn't take good care of it, it'd never be this long."

"And it looks great on you," Kohaku couldn't refrain from telling him.

"Thanks."

As gently as possible, Kohaku made the three long braids he had made into a big bun on the back of Lucille's head, and used hairclips to pin them there. "Done. It looks ten times as difficult as it is, so it should be good enough."

With a soft giggle, the singer turned around and kissed him. "I'm sure it looks nice. Thanks for doing my hair."

"You're welcome." Kohaku stood up and searched through his suitcase. A moment later, he threw a small gun at Lucille. "You got the bead too, right?"

"Yeah."

"So take the gun too, then hopefully you'll be safe."

"Yeah," Lucille sighed, pinning the gun somewhere on the inside of his dress. After grabbing a slightly bigger gun himself, the dark-haired man walked back to the bed and sat down next to the frail singer.

"Hey, after tonight this'll be over. Okay? Then we'll be relatively safe again."

"I know." Biting on his lower lip, Lucille leaned against Kohaku. "I just can't help having the feeling that something will go wrong. Really wrong."

"Just… just don't think about it. All we can do is our best," Kohaku tried to comfort him. "And whatever happens, I'll do everything to make sure neither of us dies."

The blonde just closed his eyes and sat against him for a few minutes, Kohaku's arms loosely around his thin shoulders. "Well, I guess we should go now," he mumbled finally.

"I guess so." Together, hand in hand, they stood up and left the room.

Through all the hallways, Kohaku constantly kept hold of Lucille's hand, even though he seemed just as tense himself. When they finally reached the door to the dance-hall, Lucille was starting to feel literarily sick. On the outside, he made sure he looked completely calm and happy, though. Things would only get more difficult if they'd seem suspicious in any way. Swallowing slowly, Lucille looked at Kohaku. The dark-haired man looked back at him silently, his eyes showing some concern. Lucille knew, however, that his friend felt just as stressed out as he himself did.

"Shall we go get some drinks first, or should we dance?" Kohaku asked, almost whispering.

"No drinks. We don't know what's in them," Lucille whispered in his ear, masking that fact by kissing him in his neck. "Let's dance," he then suggested at a normal volume.

"Okay, babe." Gently, Kohaku led him to the dance-floor and placed an arm around his slender waist. "Just tell me when you get tired."

"I will, honey," Lucille replied with a fake smile. He could see at the look in Kohaku's eyes that he disliked that fake smile a lot. But at least this time it had a whole different reason than Lucille being unwilling to trust anyone.

A soft song started, and Kohaku pulled him tightly against him, taking Lucille's hand with his free one. Tenderly, Lucille placed his free arm around Kohaku's shoulders and leaned his head on his friend's collarbone. "You know how to dance, right?" he whispered.

"Duh." Slowly, they started dancing. In a matter of moments, their movements became smooth and easy, and they actually had to force themselves not to attract to much unwanted attention. Still, Lucille almost enjoyed this, the slow dancing, the feeling of his body moving so softly against Kohaku's. If it weren't for the danger they knew was coming, this really would have been fun.

Dancing throughout most of the evening, they had a good opportunity to move around and keep checking everything without seeming suspicious. There were so many people here, even they could blend in perfectly. It wasn't until around midnight, though, that suddenly the hall seemed to have sailor-girls standing by every wall, and the doors were shut. "Kohaku," Lucille hissed.

"Yeah, I've seen it," his friend hissed back. "Don't let it show, but keep your eyes open!"

Unable to repress a faint tremble, Lucille realized he was once again in a confined room inside a ship. Well, at least this one was bigger, a lot, compared to that storage room from when he was a child. For some more minutes, nothing happened, until a loud voice from outside the main entrance suddenly sounded, commanding the guignols to attack and infect everyone.

"Wha… they're already in?" Kohaku mumbled shocked.

"Damn…" Searching in his dress to find the red glass bead, Lucille watched as the many sailor-girls opened they mouths and revealed their true nature. People were screaming and all running to the main entrance, leaving enough space in the middle of the room to move. "Stop!" Lucille commanded, holding the glass bead tightly in his hand, hoping it would work.

Immediately, the guignols stopped, until the other voice from outside commanded them to attack again. Somehow, in their confusedness and rage, their skin seemed to turn more and more into that of a guignol, the human disguise slowly dropping. It only made the panic among the other passengers grow, and feeling a bit nauseous, Lucille realized the first couple of people must be getting squeezed to death against the heavy doors.

No time to think about that, though. Using all the willpower he had, he commanded the guignols to stop again, and before they could fight it, started singing. Not only the guignols, but also the people seemed to feel the energy being drained out of them, some of them actually going limp on the floor. Kohaku kept standing, but Lucille could see it took him an effort. Better to finish this as soon as possible.

Already hearing the faint sound of the navy's motorized ships, he aimed his voice directly at the guignols now. Their screams chilled him to the bone, before one by one they died in a fountain of inhuman blood. At the same time, the doors flew open. To slow, Lucille and Kohaku turned towards the persons behind it. Too much weakened by Lucille's voice, Kohaku couldn't fire him gun quickly enough. At the exact moment, Kohaku shot and killed all three of them, but one bullet was already shot from the middle person.

_One last look. The gunshot still resounded in his ears, making this seem so much more like a nightmare. Red blood looked even deeper crimson against the white floor. No cry of pain came out, his face beautiful as ever, just a few shades paler and getting worse. He didn't even look scared or hurt, just merely surprised and slightly breathless. Time seemed to have stopped completely, though his body slowly fell to the floor. Just in time, he was caught._

_Feeling the blood dripping on his arms made time start moving again. "Lucille!" Kohaku screamed. "Don't close your eyes!" The deep, crystal blue was glazed over, and already his look was becoming lifeless. It scared the Hell out of the dark-haired man, and he screamed; "Say something!"_

"_K-Koha…ku?" Blood came out of his mouth, along with the words. _

"_Yeah?" His heartbeat was racing, while Lucille's was slowly disappearing. No, this couldn't be. It just couldn't!_

"_L-love… you…" His mouth fell open and he limped, too weak to move, or even talk anymore, but still looking at him with those huge, crystal-blue eyes._

"_I… I love you too," Kohaku told him, his voice trembling uncharacteristically. "Don't… don't leave me. Please."_

_There was still some life left in Lucille's big eyes, and now it was full of pain and regret._

"_I know you don't want to leave. Please…" Kohaku begged. "I'd do anything!"_

"_Don't…" It was barely more than a breath. "… let… go." His eyes lost their focus, staring at some point far behind Kohaku. Some point only he could see, and Kohaku knew that wasn't good. The singer's breathing was almost inaudible. Then, like someone turned a button, it stopped._

…

_It hurt so much, still no sound came over his lips, his body already failing him. Without realizing it, he had started to fall. The hit to the floor, however, didn't came. Strong, but trembling arms were holding him, providing some warmth, while his own was slowly leaving him. The person holding him was screaming something, but he felt so tired. So incredibly tired, he just wanted to close his eyes. But the voice woke something inside him, a faint feeling that he shouldn't let himself fade so easily._

"_K-Koha… ku?" It hurt to speak, and he tasted blood inside his mouth, feeling it dripping over his chin. It made him feel even more sick than earlier, but still he didn´t feel any emotion._

"_Yeah?" the person asked, clearly wanting him to talk. The coldness in his body was becoming mere numbness, but there was some strange pressure inside his chest._

_Still, there was something he needed to say, right now, even though he wasn't sure why he felt so scared suddenly. "L-love… you…" No longer able to fight the tiredness, he allowed his body to become limp, wanting to sleep but having the alarming feeling that he shouldn't._

"_I… I love you too." Lucille felt his heart come back to life for a moment. "Don't… don't leave me. Please."_

_He didn't want to leave. Why hadn't he allowed Kohaku in his heart earlier? Why hadn't he before it was too late? Only one week. One week hadn't been nearly enough, it wasn't fair!_

"_I know you don't want to leave. Please…" Kohaku sounded like he was fighting back his tears, which only terrified him more. "I'd do anything!"_

_No. He couldn't leave him in so much pain, not after getting so close to him first. But he just felt so numb and sleepy, and the pressure in his chest was making it almost impossible to breath. The only thing still keeping him awake, was the reassuring warmth of Kohaku's body against his own colder one. "Don't…" Breathing it out was all he could manage, but he forced himself to say it. "… let… go…" All went blurry, and he only saw some strange light, far away. Somehow, he knew that wasn't a good sign, since Kohaku didn't seem to notice it at all._

_The pressure in his chest became almost painful, slowly forcing his breathing to a stop. One last moment, he felt Kohaku's presence. Without his own accordance, his eyes finally slid shut, and everything turned into nothingness._

"Lucille!" The raw scream startled him, even though he was the one making the sound. The pale, cold body in his arms didn't stir, eyes closed and not breathing. "Don't you dare! Wake up!" The tears he had been fighting, now slid down his cheeks, but he didn't even care about them. "Lucille!"

Something made him snap out of his panic. Some terribly faint feeling, where he had Lucille's chest pressed against his. It took him a moment to recognize it, and it took him a little longer to believe it. Lucille's heart was still beating. There still was a small chance left, if the navy would be here soon with the medical support they had promised. But he had to keep the blonde's heart beating long enough to give him a chance of living, without having any medical knowledge himself. Killing, that he could. Saving someone's life like this, was something he never even imagined he'd have to do.

All he could think of was that he had to get some air into Lucille's body. Carefully, he started to lay him down on his back, but as soon as he even remotely let go of him, the faint heartbeat nearly stopped. "Crap!" He pulled Lucille back against his body. Well, no other choice than to do it this way.

Like he was kissing him, though this was so different from the past times, he pressed his lips against Lucille's. Holding him tightly with one arm, and using his free hand to pinch Lucille's nose so the air wouldn't be able to escape, he started to breath gently into the singer's lungs. After a moment, he let the air escape, then breathed into him again. Unable to even notice anything else, this beautiful but hurt man in his arms the only thing he wanted to concentrate on, he kept breathing for him until finally the navy ran into the hall.

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**Another sudden ending, I know. But this seemed like the appropriate point to end this chapter. There'll be one (probably short) chapter after this one, then the sequel will start. I told a few chapters ago that it was going to be different from this one, with more fluff, right? You'll know why, but I hope you won't dislike the idea ;)**

**I'll update soon^^**


	25. Chapter 25

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^

**Told you this chapter would be here soon ;) Kohaku will go through a lot of mental pain, Lucille… won't feel much of it, probably.**

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Hours seemed like years, first having to sit on a damned boat for hours, Lucille bandaged and wrapped in a thick blanked, lying in his arms. At least they had medical equipment in here, so the blonde was now hooked up on a machine that actually breathed for him. Not for the first time in his life, Kohaku wished he had been able to go to school when he was a kid, so he could have understood anything the doctors did and said. It made him feel so useless, unable to help the only person in this world who he ever truly loved.

At shore, they were driven to the nearest hospital and there he felt even worse. All he could do was sitting in a waiting area, alone with the knowledge that Lucille was behind those white doors, doctors cutting into him, trying to get out the bullet and stop the bleedings. They were trying to save his life, while Kohaku could only sit here, useless and scared to death that one of those people in white coats would walk out of those doors, telling him… No, he couldn't even let himself imagine that! Lucille had to live! He had to get better, or Kohaku was sure he'd die himself!

When they had just gotten here, he'd called the hotel where Gwindel and Eles were staying in a hurry, only leaving the message to the receptionist to inform them that they should come to the hospital. In the best case, they'd be here in a couple of hours. Honestly, Kohaku hoped they wouldn't be here that soon, not wanting them to see the tears burning in his eyes. Especially not Eles. One nice word, and he'd break down, that was for sure. And he couldn't allow himself to break, not before he knew Lucille was all right. Not before the singer was awake, and smiling, and all better.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep, or just passed out from exhaustion and shock, since he was suddenly woken by a man in a pale green shirt and a hairnet. "Is he…" Those few words were the only ones he managed to stammer, jumping onto his feel immediately, nearly begging the doctor not to tell him what he didn't want to hear.

"He's alive," the doctor said calmly, but the worry in his eyes made Kohaku's blood almost turn into ice. "Maybe you'd better sit down for a moment."

Kohaku dropped down more than sat back onto the plastic chair, suddenly trembling too much to keep standing. "What… is wrong?" he stammered, uncaring of seeming weak.

"We've retrieved the bullet, and the good news is that it didn't hit his heart, lungs or any vital organs," the doctor told him. "The bad news… He has lost an almost fatal amount of blood, and because he stopped breathing temporarily he also suffered some lack of oxygen. His body was in a deep shock, nearly shutting down his organs."

"So… what's wrong?" Kohaku mumbled, barely understanding the medical stuff, but realizing it was bad.

"I'm afraid his brains were damaged. It could very well be nothing severe, but… he's lapsed into a coma. We… we don't know when he'll wake up. If he wakes up." Apparently hating to bring this news, understandably, the doctor swallowed and placed his hand on Kohaku's trembling shoulder for a moment, probably in an attempt to comfort him. "I'm sorry."

For some moments, Kohaku only stared at him, before averting his gaze towards the floor. "Can… can I please see him?"

"Of course," the doctor nodded. "He's in the intensive care department, but since the navy's medical team told us he seemed to be stronger while you were with him, it seemed to us like a good idea to allow you access to his room full time." Gently, he signaled Kohaku to stand up and follow him. "I'll take you to him now."

Underneath the oxygen-mask, Lucille's face was almost more white than the blanket covering his body, and the pillow. It was definitely more pale than the bandages covering his chest and abdomen. Due to all the tubes attached to his frail body, the bandages around his abdomen were partly visibly, and there were already faint blood stains on them. Almost afraid to disturb anything, Kohaku sat down on a small plastic seat next to the white bed.

"L-Lucille…" No response at all, only the slow beeping of a computer showing the singer's faint heartbeat, and the nearly unnoticeable rising and falling of his chest, showing his even fainter breaths. His hand shaking so much, he actually had some trouble aiming, he took the singer's smaller hand into his bigger one. It felt cold, and so strangely limp. "Lucille…" Again, no response. "Lucille…"

Staring at that beautiful face, the body of the only person he truly loved lying here like a living corpse, Kohaku finally felt tears streaming down his cheeks. Letting go of Lucille's hand and instead burying his face in the long blonde hair sprawled on the pillow, he sobbed; "L-Lucille… You can't leave me!" Almost without noticing it, he grabbed Lucille's upper arm like he was trying to pull him out of this unnatural sleep. "Y-you… I love you! Wake up!" Another sob, and now he just let it go. "Wake up! Please… L-Lucille… W-wake u-up…"

The harsh sobs wrecking his body made it impossible to speak, so he just cried like he hadn't done since his childhood. What hurt the most, somehow, was that the singer didn't respond even to that. A sharp pang of guilty went through him, when he realized that a coma wasn't the same as mere unconsciousness. Lucille might feel or even hear something from what was happening around him. Which meant that Kohaku was practically torturing him now, crying like this while the blonde was too weak, too far gone to react. Still, he couldn't stop for what seemed like hours, begging Lucille to wake, and telling him that he loved him, until he suddenly felt a small hand on his shoulder.

"K-Kohaku?" Eles stared at him with a worried and almost terrified look in her big eyes. Gwindel stood behind her, looking stoic as always. "The doctor told us…" Tears started slipping down her cheeks. "What will we do?"

"How the Hell am I s-supposed to know!" Kohaku replied, his voice trembling more than he wanted to allow himself. "I'm n-not leaving his side, no m-matter w-what!" He saw at the look in her eyes that something had changed between him and Lucille, during their week on that damn ship. And that indeed, Kohaku was the one Lucille needed.

"Then… then Gwin and me can try to get work! We can't be an orchestra without him, but to get money, we'll work. Right?" She turned around, looking at the emotionless man beside her. He merely nodded. "And you have to stay with him. W-when he gets out of the hospital, awake or not, you have to take care of him!"

Kohaku also just nodded, but only because he didn't trust his voice enough to speak. A nurse came in, informing them that a nearby hotel had offered to take in them and some other family and friends from people who got injured on the ship. He barely noticed them leave, Gwindel not even saying goodbye and Eles giving Lucille a short, tear-filled kiss onto his forehead before she went after the tall man.

"Lucille? D-did you hear that too?" Kohaku mumbled in the blonde's ear. "No matter what, I'll be there. I'll take care of you for the rest of my life, even if I don't have to." Some tears landed on Lucille's beautiful face, as Kohaku carefully leaned over him and pushed the oxygen-mask a bit to the side, kissing the singer on the corner of his mouth. The faint taste of blood still lingered there, but while shoving the oxygen-mask back in place, Kohaku realized he couldn't care less about that. "I love you, Lucille. And you know that I'll never ever let go of you!"

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**In some days or less, the first chapter of the sequel will be out^^**


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